Democratic US Senate Leader Chuck Schumer is making a recovery in support from his memebers as Republicans begin to twist in the wind, engage in backbiting and digging deeper in trouble with American support…
The Senate on Thursday voted for a seventh time to block a House-passed bill to reopen the federal government, as only three members of the Democratic caucus joined Republicans in voting to resolve the impasse.
The House Republican-drafted measure to fund the government through Nov. 21, a clean continuing resolution that keeps funding levels current, failed to advance on a procedural vote, 54-45. It needed 60 votes to advance.
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As the shutdown fight stretches into its second week, the winds have shifted in favor of the Democrats — at least for the moment.
Early polls say voters are more likely to blame President Trump and the Republicans for the lengthy impasse. The president and his congressional allies are publicly at odds over compensation for furloughed workers. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) is sending mixed messages on whether to protect military pay. And prominent cracks are emerging in the GOP’s resistance to extending ObamaCare subsidies.
The combination has put Republican leaders on the defensive, even as they’re faulting Democrats for the long impasse. And the developments have boosted the Democrats’ confidence that they’ll be able to maintain their unified front, both in opposing the GOP’s short-term spending bill and demanding an extension of ObamaCare tax credits, which remains the issue at the center of the deadlock.
“Democrats have been consistent. Our position remains the same, we’ve been saying it for months,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Wednesday on the chamber floor. “Republicans are shutting down the government because they refuse to address the crisis in American health care.”
A short time later, Schumer joined 43 other Senate Democrats in opposing the Republicans’ continuing resolution (CR). The 54-45 tally fell shy of the 60 votes needed to defeat a filibuster, marking the sixth time the bill has failed in the upper chamber…
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Public polls, although early, have consistently found voters blaming Republicans more than Democrats for the stalemate.
A YouGov poll conducted in the early days of the shutdown found that 45 percent of voters blame Trump and Republicans, versus 36 percent who hold Democrats responsible.
A new CBS survey released this week also found the gap to be 9 percentage points, with 39 percent of respondents holding Trump and Republicans to account, versus 30 percent who blame Democrats. Other polls have given Democrats a similar edge.
Republicans are also facing challenges surrounding Trump’s threat not to provide back pay to furloughed federal workers. Such compensation has been routine during shutdowns in the past, and Trump had signed a law in 2019 that seemed to codify the trend. But the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) this week cast new doubts on the automatic nature of the payments, saying the government is under no legal obligation to provide them — a message Trump amplified from the White House.
The news sparked a backlash from a number of congressional Republicans, who quickly pushed back in support of the back pay.
“It’s not up to the president,” Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) said Tuesday. “I mean, his opinion matters, but Congress has got to appropriate the money.
“Read the Constitution.”
As Democrats have dug in, Trump and others have signaled they may be adjusting their stance.
Despite officials saying last week that layoffs were “imminent” and Trump suggesting over the weekend they had already started, such job cuts have yet to come to fruition.
And Trump appeared to hedge on the OMB memo, saying Tuesday, “For the most part, we’re going to take care of our people.”
The fight over military pay is also creating headaches for GOP leaders. Johnson suggested Tuesday he might call the House back to Washington to vote on a stand-alone bill to ensure that military personnel won’t miss any shutdown paychecks, the first of which is due Oct. 15.
“I’m certainly open to that. We’ve done it in the past,” he said. “We want to make sure that our troops are paid.”
But Wednesday, the Speaker walked it back, saying that if Democrats want the troops to be paid, they should support the Republicans’ CR….
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One source close to the White House acknowledged that if the shutdown drags on, concerns about the economy could drive Trump to want to make a deal….
Democratic US Senate leader Chuck Schumer has restored some support among Democrats with his hold tight against the Republicans…
Chuck Schumer ended the last shutdown standoff as a villain to Democrats outraged at his decision to surrender to Republicans. This time, the Senate minority leader has heeded the party base, sparking a showdown that has kept government agencies closed for eight days and counting.
So far, his former critics are impressed. But that doesn’t mean they trust him…
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“He hasn’t surrendered yet,” said Indivisible co-founder Ezra Levin, who called on Schumer to step down in March. “I call that progress, and we’re cheering him on now.”
Rep. Glenn Ivey (D-Md.), who said in March “it may be time” for Schumer to step aside, is now pleased with the top Senate leader’s coordination with top House Democrat Hakeem Jeffries — at least “at this point.”
“I think it looks great right now,” Ivey said, adding that the collaboration between the two leaders was “moving things in the right direction for both the House and the Senate Democrats.”
The guardedly positive reviews for Schumer’s leadership come as the shutdown fight enters a politically perilous new phase. Real-world impacts of the funding lapse are likely to mount in the coming days, with most federal workers set to miss a paycheck Friday and active-duty troops next Wednesday….
Update….
Senators departed Washington without a deal to end the government shutdown, ensuring that it will last into next week with both sides still deadlocked.
The upper chamber finished work for the week late on Thursday night when they passed the Senate’s version of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which included more than a dozen of amendment votes….
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