Senate Democrats’ Filibuster Prolongs Shutdown, Hurting American Families
For the 10th time, a Senate vote on a commonsense stopgap bill to fund the government through November 21 fell short Thursday, dooming the federal shutdown to drag on and burden everyday Americans with uncertainty for days longer than necessary.
With the Senate poised to reconvene only on Monday, the window for relief remains stubbornly closed—thanks to Democrats’ obstructionist tactics.
Democrats Block Bipartisan Efforts, Prioritizing Obamacare Over Fiscal Sanity
Senate Democrats are stonewalling the clean funding measure, gambling on a filibuster to force a wide-ranging deal that advances their pet projects, especially a costly extension of the pandemic-era Obamacare premium subsidies slated to lapse by year’s end.
Cloture demands 60 votes to break the impasse, yet the best any of the 10 attempts has mustered is 55—highlighting Democrats’ unity in putting politics over people.
Out of 47 Democratic senators plus independents who align with them, a measly three have backed ending the shutdown, leaving the rest to prioritize ideology over immediate relief for furloughed workers and vital services.
Republicans, ever the adults in the room, vow to keep pressing votes on the bill until five more Democrats grow a spine and join the majority to get government running again.
In a smart pivot, the GOP is teeing up a test vote Thursday on advancing a slate of bipartisan full-year appropriations bills, which—if cleared by both chambers—could strategically restart key agencies piecemeal, restoring order without the Democrats’ all-or-nothing demands.
Republicans Offer Fair Deal, But Democrats Cry Foul on Promises
A cadre of Senate Democrats has signaled they’ll torpedo progress on those full-year bills too, mirroring their blockade of the stopgap: They’re angling for a grand bargain that locks in Obamacare enhancements, even as fiscal conservatives warn of unchecked spending.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, the steady-handed South Dakota Republican, extended an olive branch to Democrats, pledging a guaranteed future vote on extending the Obamacare subsidies—provided they first unlock the government.
“I’ve said if you need a vote, we can guarantee you get a vote by a date certain,” Mr. Thune said on MSNBC. “At some point, Democrats have to take ’yes’ for an answer.”
Mr. Thune was clear-eyed about the limits: “I can’t guarantee it’s going to pass,” he said—transparency that underscores Republican commitment to process over partisan tricks.
Yet Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer, the New York Democrat master of delay, dismissed the overture outright, claiming Mr. Thune “has not come to me with any proposal at this point.”
Fellow Democrats piled on, with Michigan’s Sen. Elissa Slotkin voicing the party’s trademark distrust: “I do not trust that they will live up to that, and so it should be nearly simultaneous.”
Undeterred, a cross-aisle Senate working group has brainstormed pragmatic paths forward, including one floated by Punchbowl News and vetted by participants: an immediate vote to end the shutdown, chased by a one-year Obamacare subsidy extension, all tied to ironclad pledges for a lasting fix on those entitlements.
The viability hinges on hammering out those details, but it’s a Republican-led blueprint for compromise that Democrats would be wise to embrace—before the shutdown’s pain hits home even harder.
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