Senate returns to work as government shutdown nears longest in US history over Obamacare fight

The Senate returns to Washington, D.C., this week as the government shutdown nears a record-shattering milestone and as lawmakers remain entrenched in their positions.

Come late Tuesday night, the government shutdown will officially become the longest on record, at 36 days, smashing through the previous record etched into the history books in early 2019. And while that record approaches, and payday deadlines are missed and federal benefits dry up, the Senate is still largely in a holding pattern.

Still, there was newfound optimism among some lawmakers as bipartisan talks increased last week, and many hope that same momentum carries into this week.

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But for now, neither side is budging from the positions they’ve maintained since Oct. 1, when the shutdown officially began.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and his Democratic caucus want a deal on expiring Obamacare premium subsidies before they agree to reopen the government. Saturday was when open enrollment officially began nationwide.

They’ve long warned that unless a deal was made before open enrollment, Americans that rely on the subsidies would see their premiums spike, despite the subsidies not expiring until the end of this year.

“People are going to see drastic, drastic increases in their healthcare costs,” Schumer said last week. “People are going to sit at the dinner table Friday night with a pit, with a hole in the pit of their stomach, and say, ‘How are we going to do this?’”

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Senate Republicans largely agree that there needs to be an extension of some kind to the subsidies, but they also want a host of reforms made to the program that was enhanced under former President Joe Biden.

And Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., has offered Senate Democrats a vote on the Obamacare subsidies, but they say that’s not enough and demand that President Donald Trump get involved.

Trump officially returned to the country after a near weeklong trip to Asia but still appears to be keeping the shutdown at an arm’s length.

While Schumer and his Democratic caucus’ demands have remained laser-focused on expiring Obamacare subsidies, they have also blamed Trump for not funding federal food benefits as he did in 2019, and Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., have called for a meeting with the president.

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But Trump won’t meet with the top congressional Democrats until the shutdown ends — a point he and Republicans have made time and time again.

And he won’t budge on healthcare negotiations until the government reopens, either.

“I’m not going to do it by being extorted by the Democrats who have lost their way,” Trump said on CBS’ “60 Minutes.” “There’s something wrong with these people.”

Meanwhile, Trump has urged Senate Republicans to get rid of the 60-vote filibuster threshold in the upper chamber. Doing so is a proverbial third rail for Senate Republicans and a longstanding priority for Senate Democrats.

He renewed that call over the weekend in posts on Saturday and Sunday to his social media platform Truth Social.

“Republicans, you will rue the day that you didn’t TERMINATE THE FILIBUSTER!!! BE TOUGH, BE SMART, AND WIN,” he said.