WASHINGTON, D.C. – It’s day three of the government shutdown and there’s no end in sight, yet. Senate Republicans were unable to find enough support across the aisle to pass their short-term funding bill. Democrats maintain they want to include additional healthcare programs in the bill.
“All we need is a handful more of Democrats,” said Senate Majority Leader, John Thune (R- SD). “No gimmicks, nothing in here that benefits Republicans, this is a straight up seven-week funding resolution and we need it to keep the government open.”
Democrats are digging their feet in on including additional health care programs into the bill.
“If we don’t act now, then at least 22-million people will see their healthcare premiums double on average,” said Senate Minority Leader, Chuck Schumer (D- NY). “That is all Democrats want to fix.”
The Senate is taking the weekend as a break. The tension at the Capitol among Republicans and Democrats is palpable.
“They have taken hostage the federal government and by extension the American people who are the only losers in this; Everyone talks about who wins, who loses and who gets the blame,” said Sen. Thune. “That’s not what this is about.”
“We’ve asked Republican leaders for months to talk to us, talk to us,” said Sen. Schumer. “They’ve refused and barreled us into a shutdown. They thought they could bludgeon us and threaten us and scare us. It’s not working.”
Democrats are now criticizing the White House for pausing funding for projects in many Democrat-led states.
“This kind of bullying from the White House is going to backlash on them,” said Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D- CT).
Republicans said a shutdown requires tough decisions by the executive branch.
“They are given an unenviable task, it’s a tough situation,” said Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson (R- LA). “They have to determine since the spickets have been essentially turned off and there’s no more money coming in they have to then prioritize, triage effectively, federal spending. They have to look at all of that and say which things are deemed essential and which are non-essential?”
The Senate will return next week where we expect them to take up these measures again.
