Thune Plans Shutdown Test Vote as Democrats Lean Toward Deal (1)

Senate Republican leader John Thune said a deal is “coming together” as he planned a test vote Sunday on a narrow spending package that would end the 40-day government shutdown.

A group of Senate Democrats is leaning toward voting to advance the package provided final details can be worked out, a person familiar with the bipartisan talks said.

The group is large enough to get the package to the 60 votes needed, the person said.

The Senate released a new stopgap measure Sunday that would fund the departments of Agriculture and Veterans Affairs along with the Food and Drug Administration and Congress itself through Sept. 30, 2026. Other agencies would be funded through Jan. 30, 2026, according to a draft of the bill.

The bill also includes language for backpay for federal workers who didn’t receive paychecks during the shutdown and would ensure that workers who were laid off while the government was closed keep their jobs.

Even if the vote on Sunday succeeds, that doesn’t necessarily mean the shutdown will end quickly.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said Democrats in his chamber wouldn’t support the plan.

“We will fight the GOP bill in the House of Representatives, where Mike Johnson will be compelled to end the seven week Republican taxpayer-funded vacation,” he said in a statement on Sunday.

That puts the onus on House Republicans to scrounge up enough votes to re-open the government. The GOP holds a narrow majority in the chamber, but several hardline conservative members could object to the bill.

Many Democrats in both chambers have continued to demand a one-year extension of the Obamacare subsidies for low-income Americans in exchange for agreeing to reopen the government.

Thune told reporters at the Capitol Sunday that he will be watching the vote tally to see if enough Democratic votes materialized in the Senate.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune

Photographer: Allison Robbert/Bloomberg

As Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warned that air traffic could “slow to a trickle” over the Thanksgiving holiday if the shutdown continues.

Senators stayed in Washington over the weekend for the first time during the shutdown after President Donald Trump chided lawmakers to “not leave town” until the spending impasse is resolved.

Democrats, buoyed by a sweep of coast-to-coast election victories last week, had scaled back their demands, offering a plan to extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits for one year in exchange for re-opening the government. Republicans immediately rejected the idea, but the two sides did begin some informal conversations on how to move things forward.

Read More: Air Travel Misery Worsens as Chicago Storm Adds to Shutdown Mess

Trump repeatedly berated Senate Republicans over social media to end the filibuster rule, which would allow the GOP to pass the bill with a simple majority instead of 60 senators. He also floated a vague idea to give money to people directly to pay for their own health care. He did not mention any appetite to negotiate with Democrats.

“He has spent more time golfing over the last several weeks than he has talking to Democrats who represent half of the country as part of an effort to find a bipartisan path forward,” House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries said on NBC’s Meet the Press.

The effects of a shutdown compound the longer it persists. Federal workers continue to go without pay, and contingency funds — used as a stopgap to fund some benefits and pay military members — risk running dry. Backlogs for tax refunds, small business loans and other federal applications build up.

Lawmakers have pointed to pain points — ranging from airline chaos to delayed food aid — that could serve as inflection points to end the shutdown. So far, none of those developments have delivered any clarity to how or when the shutdown might end, inducing more uncertainty about what else needs to go wrong to heighten pressure on lawmakers to act.

The shutdown consequences are costing the US economy about $15 billion a week. And the Congressional Budget Office estimates that the shutdown will reduce annualized quarterly growth rate of real GDP by 1.5 percentage points by mid-November. Consumer sentiment hit a three-year low on Friday amid heightened anxiety about the shutdown, prices and the job market.

(Updates to add bill details, Jeffries statement.)

--With assistance from Lillianna Byington, Jack Fitzpatrick and Ken Tran.

To contact the reporter on this story:
Steven T. Dennis in Washington at sdennis17@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Kevin Whitelaw at kwhitelaw@bloomberg.net

Wendy Benjaminson, Megan Scully

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