A small group of coal-state Senate Democrats who were holding up a must-pass spending bill on Friday may soon lose the backing of their own party lawmakers, who say they won’t allow the dispute to cause a partial government shutdown.
Congress faces a midnight deadline to pass a short term spending bill known as continuing resolution, or CR. After midnight, a stopgap measure to fund the government runs out.
Senate Democrats say they want no part of a politically poisonous closure, even though they side with Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and a few other Democrats who are holding up the bill because they seek a year-long extension of health benefits for retired coal miners. The current deal provides only a four-month extension.
Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md., said he fully supports Manchin and would not say whether he will vote in favor of passing the government spending bill Manchin is blocking. But Cardin, who represents thousands of federal workers, suggested he was not willing to block the spending bill when a vote on is called at 1 a.m. Saturday.
“There is extreme disappointment,” in the four-month provision, Cardin said. “But it doesn’t mean I’m going to shut the government down. I’m going to support a CR.”
Cardin said Manchin realizes Democrats don’t want a closure, particularly before the holidays. “Sen. Manchin understands that, believe me,” Cardin said.
Democrats, Cardin said, are seeking “greater assurances” that miners won’t lose their benefits after the four-month extension runs out next year.
Earlier Friday, Senate Minority Whip Richard Durbin, D-Ill., agreed that Democrats have no appetite for a shutdown.
Manchin on Friday remained in his office on Capitol Hill, huddling with coal miners who are demanding a more permanent extension of health coverage guaranteed by the federal government decades ago. He was set to speak on the Senate floor about his intentions shortly after 5 p.m.
Manchin and a handful of other coal-state Democrats had planned an afternoon press conference in the Capitol featuring the United Mine Workers of America. But the event was abruptly cancelled moments before it was supposed to start.
Republican leaders said it is up to Democrats to allow a vote before the midnight deadline and like others on Capitol Hill, they are waiting for an update.
“It’s up in the air,” Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said Friday afternoon as the sun set on the Capitol. Without Manchin’s agreement, the earliest the Senate can vote is 1 a.m. Saturday.
At that point, it’s unlikely Manchin would be able to block the bill. Republicans would only need four Democrats to end a filibuster and there are many possibilities.
Cardin, Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., and Virginia’s two Democratic senators, Mark Warner and Tim Kaine, are among the senators who will be wary of blocking spending bill that provides paychecks for many of their constituents. The same goes for Michigan’s Senate delegation, which is eager to pass into law $170 million designated for Flint, where the water supply is contaminated with lead.
Cornyn said the move to delay the bill may ultimately be more about 2018 politics than actually changing the bill. The House has left town, Cornyn noted, which would make it extremely difficult to alter the bill at this point.
Manchin, along with Sen. Sherrod Brown, of Ohio and Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, are among the Democrats up for re-election in 2018.
“Obviously they would like to show they are fighting on behalf of their constituents,” Cornyn said.
