Senate reaches temporary truce to end record shutdown, but January battle looms
Senators believe that after reaching a deal to end the longest shutdown on record, they won’t be in the same position early next year.The bipartisan package that advanced from the...
By Fox News · Fox News
Senators believe that after reaching a deal to end the longest shutdown on record, they won’t be in the same position early next year. The bipartisan package that advanced from the Senate late Monday night would, if passed by the House this week, reopen the government until Jan. 30. Lawmakers believe that extension would give them enough time to fund the government the old-fashioned way, making another shutdown a moot point. But that all depends on whether they can complete work on spending bills, find agreement with the House, and get them on President Donald Trump ’s desk before the new deadline. DEMOCRATS, LEFT EMPTY-HANDED IN SHUTDOWN, TURN FURY ON SCHUMER There’s also the possibility that if the guarantee for a vote on expiring Obamacare subsidies does not go how Senate Democrats want, that could significantly hamper Congress’ ability to avert yet another shutdown. "We’ll take them one day at a time," Senate Majority Leader John Thune , R-S.D., said. "Obviously, it's another deadline we have to deal with. But the immediate objective is to get the government open and enable those conversations to commence." "There are Democrats and Republicans who are both interested in trying to do something in the healthcare space," he continued. "And clearly, there is a need. I mean, there is an affordability issue on healthcare that has to be addressed, and the current trajectory we're on isn't a sustainable path." Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., told Fox News Digital that Democrats needed to be united in their demand that "Republicans be held to their promise of having a vote on the healthcare subsidies in December." Thune reiterated his guarantee on Sunday and teed up the second week of December as the deadline for getting a Democratic proposal to the floor. SENATE ENDS 41-DAY GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN STALEMATE, SENDS BIPARTISAN DEAL TO HOUSE "The future is unpredictable, but we need to continue our fight unequivocally, unyieldingly, for affordable healthcare insurance throu…