Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) is eying a proposal to end the government shutdown as the gridlock in Washington, D.C., enters its ninth day.
Thune is “ready” to use Congress’s appropriations process to open the government. It’s an arduous process lawmakers seek to use every year to pass 12 sweeping appropriations bills that provide government funding to different priorities, including defense, education, and healthcare.
Under Thune’s plan, he could wield his power as majority leader to bring a single appropriation bill to the floor one at a time if it has already been passed by the House, such as the defense package, according to Axios.
“We’re prepared to do that,” Thune told the outlet. “[But] that takes consent. We got to find out if the Dems are going to let us do anything while the government is shut down.”
Key Senate Democrats signaled they were on board with the idea, but argued it wouldn’t substantially change anything in terms of the government shutdown.
“There’s nothing holding [Thune] back from doing that,” Senate Appropriations Ranking Member Patty Murray (D-WA) said. “[But] that does not change where we are right now in the CR….we still have to negotiate with the House. The President has to sign it, so it’s a long way from anywhere.”
The “CR” Murray mentioned is a reference to the continuing resolution to keep the government open that the House passed, but Senate Democrats blocked, triggering the shutdown.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has stayed firm on refusing to bring another option up for debate in the House.
Thune’s latest announcement indicates he’s slightly more amenable to negotiating with Democrats, after the minority party blocked the House-passed resolution for the sixth time in a Wednesday vote in the upper chamber.
Democrats are blocking the resolution because it doesn’t contain provisions extending Obamacare subsidies. They believe the matter is urgent and needs to be addressed immediately.
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Republicans have argued the matter should be negotiated later this fall, when lawmakers have more time to hash out details about the healthcare debate during the appropriations process. Thune and Johnson believe Democrats are acting out of hypocrisy due to the party’s historical support of similar “clean” resolutions.
Amid the gridlock, some House Republicans are beginning to pressure Johnson to give in to Democratic demands, as over 2 million military members will miss their first paycheck on Wednesday, Oct. 15.
