Republicans are souring on a strategy to reopen the government piecemeal, with GOP leadership all but shelving bills to help air traffic controllers and troops going without pay during the shutdown.
“There’s not a high level of interest in doing carve-outs, or so-called rifle shots,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) said on Tuesday.
For weeks, Republicans have been bringing to the floor stand-alone bills that pay federal workers or, in one case, fund the entire Pentagon, but Democrats have rejected each as they demand healthcare concessions as part of any funding deal.
The bill on air traffic controllers, first reported by the Washington Examiner, could actually have the votes to pass, as the four-week shutdown creates delays at airports across the country.
The same can be said of a separate bill to keep the food stamps program running. Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) has expressed interest in bringing the legislation, which has attracted bipartisan support, to the floor ahead of a Nov. 1 funding cliff.
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Still, Republicans are betting the pressure points could soon be enough to attract the Democratic support for a “clean,” short-term funding bill that passed the GOP House last month.
That bill failed for a 13th time on Tuesday afternoon, with crossover support from just three of the eight senators needed to overcome a Senate filibuster. But Republicans have managed to peel off three other Democrats for some stand-alone measures, while Democrats face increasing pressure from traditional allies.
On Monday, the largest union for federal employees urged Democrats to drop their demand for expiring Obamacare subsidies as part of funding negotiations.
Democrats could also feel more comfortable ending their blockade sometime next week after Virginia, home to a large number of federal workers, holds statewide elections, and open enrollment begins for the Affordable Care Act plans affected by the subsidies.
Democrats had been hoping open enrollment would spur Republicans to cave in the shutdown fight, with a spike in premiums driving political pressure, but GOP leadership has shown no signs of relenting from their insistence on a funding bill free of policy provisions.
Instead, Thune and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) have said they would negotiate a possible Obamacare deal after the government reopens.
Senate Republicans will decide on whether to abandon the “rifle shot” votes when they gather with Vice President JD Vance for lunch on Tuesday afternoon, but Thune gave his clearest signal yet on Tuesday that he is returning to the all-or-nothing stance he first embraced at the outset of the shutdown.
“I think most people recognize the way to get out of this mess is to vote to open up the government,” Thune said.
The White House’s decision to pay service members earlier this month, finding unspent funds to do so, blunted the pressure on Congress, as did its decision to keep a welfare program for low-income mothers afloat.
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But troops could still miss their next paycheck, while the administration says its hands are tied on food stamp funding, which supports 42 million people in the United States.
“The White House has … all the pain dials turned back just to zero or one as best they can, but when you’re out of resources, they go all the way up,” Johnson said at a Tuesday press conference marking the 28th day of the shutdown. “And it’s out of their hands, it’s out of our hands.”
Ramsey Touchberry contributed to this report.
