EXCLUSIVE — Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) is preparing the next “rifle shots” in a fight over government funding, previewing to the Washington Examiner that the Senate could vote on bills to pay troops and air traffic controllers as soon as next week.
In a Wednesday interview at the Capitol, Thune signaled he will continue bringing stand-alone bills that fund segments of the federal workforce, a strategy designed to pressure Democrats to back off their shutdown demands.
First, the Senate will vote Thursday on a measure paying all “excepted” federal employees, meaning those forced to work in a government shutdown. But the legislation is expected to fail as Senate Democrats bring forward a competing bill that also pays furloughed workers.
“They’re kind of rifle shots. My preference, always, is just to open up the government, then all this stuff would not be an issue,” Thune said. “I just think that at some point, we all want to pay them all. But you got people defending the country.”
The bill to pay troops, led by Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK), is similar to a House version that has almost 200 co-sponsors. The one for air traffic controllers, sponsored by Commerce Chairman Ted Cruz (R-TX), was just filed on Wednesday evening and pays all personnel tasked with a security mission at the nation’s airports, including screeners with the Transportation Security Administration.
The two bills are not yet locked in for votes, but are part of a “menu of options” under consideration by GOP leadership.
The White House has, to some extent, blunted the leverage Republicans have over Democrats by diverting funds to pay active service members, as well as keep a welfare program for new mothers afloat. And initially, Thune signaled that a House-passed bill that reopens the government through Nov. 21 is the only way out of a shutdown.
But Thune has more recently made a series of strategy pivots, bringing forward narrower bills that would otherwise attract bipartisan support. Last week, he accused Democrats of not “taking yes for an answer” after a full-year bill to fund the Pentagon failed a procedural vote on the Senate floor.
The legislation, which could be combined with other appropriations bills, is one of several off-ramps Thune says he has given Democrats to end the shutdown logjam, which centers on their demand for a permanent extension of Obamacare subsidies that expire at the end of the year.
But Republicans have so far been unable to win the needed cross-over support to overcome a Senate filibuster. After repeated votes on the House-passed funding bill, just two Democrats and one independent have joined Republicans since the shutdown began on Oct. 1.
When asked if the White House had weakened Republicans’ hand with its carve-out for military pay, Thune said, “We’re all for doing whatever you can to make sure the troops got paid, so I know I don’t view it that way.”
“It probably does take a little pressure off the Democrats,” Thune added, “and in a good way, I thought maybe it would buy them some time to figure out what the off-ramp is that they want.”
Thune has also offered a vote on the expiring Obamacare subsidies once the government reopens, but Democrats want to negotiate a deal that can pass the House and will be signed by President Donald Trump.
THUNE PIVOTS TO FEDERAL WORKER PAY AS LATEST SHUTDOWN TRIAL BALLOON
Thune conceded that Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) is unlikely to support the short-term funding extension, given the pressure he is receiving from his left flank, but said his goal is to peel off five more rank-and-file Democrats that Republicans view as persuadable in the shutdown fight.
“I think the Democrats, at some point, are going to have to decide,” Thune said. “I don’t think it’s going to be at the leadership level, because I don’t think they can. I think Schumer’s in a box.”
