Sen. Angus King (I-ME) voted with Republicans on Wednesday for the continuing resolution to reopen the government, denying Democrats a symbolic win on the eighth day of the shutdown.
King, an independent who caucuses with the Democrats, had been wavering on his vote, expressing frustration with Republicans’ refusal to negotiate with Democrats over expiring Obamacare subsidies.
But he returned to the rationale that first led him to side with the GOP, warning that a shutdown ceded too much authority to President Donald Trump as he threatens mass layoffs and the cancellation of projects in blue states.
White House budget director Russ Vought fanned those concerns on Tuesday with a draft memo that argued furloughed workers were not entitled to back pay.
“The power that the president and OMB and Vought and Miller are exercising under the shutdown is a real threat to our country,” King told reporters ahead of the vote, referring to White House policy adviser Stephen Miller.
“I would very much like to get this ACA thing resolved. I think that’s important,” King continued. “I think the Republicans should step up and help us do that. But in the end, we got to get this shutdown over with because I think the worst is yet to come.”
His vote leaves Democrats no closer to extracting healthcare concessions, chief among them the extension of Obamacare tax credits that expire at the end of the year.
In a 54-45 vote, King and two Democrats voted for a “clean” GOP bill that keeps the government operating through Nov. 21, the same number who previously supported the proposal on the Senate floor.
The vote lent bipartisan support to the measure, with Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) and John Fetterman (D-PA) joining King, but fell short of the 60 needed to overcome the filibuster.
A Democrat-led funding proposal that extends the Obamacare subsidies and rolls back Medicaid changes in Trump’s tax law also failed in a separate vote held minutes earlier.
Wednesday marks the sixth time the Senate has voted on the GOP funding measure, which passed the House last month largely along party lines.
Republicans hoped the repeated votes would exert pressure on retiring or centrist members seen as willing to break with Democratic leadership, but Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has managed to keep his caucus largely in lockstep.
Democrats are asking for a permanent extension of the subsidies but have so far been unable to get a GOP commitment that they will be extended at all. The Republican position is that talks can happen once the government reopens, though there are informal, rank-and-file conversations occurring to end the impasse.
Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK), an adviser to Senate GOP leadership, met with a bipartisan group of lawmakers on Tuesday night to discuss the shutdown, telling reporters the talks are a “directive” from the president.
“Our position as Republicans hasn’t changed of a clean CR, it’s what happens next,” Mullin said. “What’s the point of reopening for five weeks now, and we shut back down the 21st?”
Separately, Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), the chairwoman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, has been speaking with colleagues about a “discussion draft” that supports negotiating an extension of the Obamacare subsidies once the government is reopened.
THUNE KNOCKS JEFFRIES OVER OBAMACARE SUBSIDY DEMANDS: ‘LIVING IN DREAM WORLD’
There are several other Democrats whom Republicans view as swayable, but the actions of Vought, the White House budget chief, have deepened Democratic opposition to ending the shutdown.
“It would be a lot easier to resolve the situation if Russ Vought would stop talking,” Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) said Tuesday after the budget office floated draft guidance to bar furloughed employees from back pay.
