Two weeks into the government shutdown, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., remain publicly at odds, refusing to meet and instead trading accusations through the media, while both cast President Donald Trump as the eventual key to unlocking healthcare negotiations, Axios reported.
Thune says he has not phoned Schumer directly because he sees Schumer as boxed in.
“He’s got all these groups coming in this weekend and a base that’s unhappy and wants to see him fight Trump,” Thune told Axios.
Meanwhile, Schumer accuses Thune of refusing to negotiate. The two have not spoken this week, sources familiar with the situation told Axios.
Thune says he has floated offering Democrats an explicit vote to extend Affordable Care Act subsidies as part of reopening the government. But he stopped short of guaranteeing the measure would pass, insisting negotiations must start only once the shutdown ends.
“If you need a vote, we can guarantee you get a vote by a date certain,” he told MSNBC, adding, “I can’t guarantee it’s going to pass.”
Schumer, however, pushed back, saying no formal proposal has been presented.
“Leader Thune has not come to me with any proposal,” he told reporters.
Democrats maintain they won’t support reopening the government without assurances that the healthcare subsidies will become law, not just receive a floor vote.
Thune says that some rank-and-file Democrats are already in quiet conversations with Republicans.
“There’s a group of Democrats … who’ve been meeting and communicating with members on our side,” he told Axios, without naming individuals.
Thune also acknowledged that many Senate Republicans view the COVID-era subsidies as having outlived their usefulness.
“The people who think these were COVID-era policies that ought to expire is the majority,” he said.
Still, Thune argued, “there is a sufficient number of Republicans who … would, with reforms, be supportive of at least doing something for some amount of time.”
A key pivot point may lie with the president. Thune expects the White House to join the talks eventually, but only after the shutdown ends.
“The key to all this will be what the White House decides they want to do,” he said, adding he doesn’t expect intervention “until the hostage-taking ends.”
He said he has had conversations with the administration about using an appropriations package instead of rescissions to satisfy executive priorities.
“If we’re actually passing appropriations bills … you pretty much do away with the need for rescissions,” he said.
Among Republicans, resentment is rising over efforts by Russell Vought, director of the Office of Management and Budget, to claw back funds.
Thune, though, demurred, saying, “I think everybody knows Russ Vought wants to do rescissions. … The president makes a call on that, and I know his view on it.”
For now, the Senate remains gridlocked: On Thursday, the chamber again failed, this time for the 10th time, to advance a funding resolution to end the shutdown.
Congress is now in recess until Monday, virtually guaranteeing more shutdown days before any breakthrough.
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