WASHINGTON — The Senate will begin crafting a new bill to reopen the government that goes beyond the current Nov. 21 date, offering a glimmer of hope that lawmakers can negotiate a spending deal to reopen the government within the next week.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., told reporters on Monday that lawmakers would need to write a new continuing resolution to extend federal funding — a step that Republican leaders have so far avoided committing to as a way to keep pressure on their Democratic colleagues. But after bipartisan talks continued this weekend, Thune said he is “optimistic” an agreement can be finalized to end the monthlong shutdown.
“I think we’re getting close to an off-ramp here,” Thune said.
But the progress would need to be quick, Thune said. If there isn’t significant headway made by Wednesday, there likely won’t be a deal this week. But if something can be drafted within the next two days, the Senate is prepared to send that bill back to the House for approval.
That would then require the House to quickly reconvene for the first time in weeks as members have been kept out of town while operating on a 48-hour return notice. The House hasn’t voted since Sept. 19.
It’s unclear what the new date in the spending resolution will be, although Thune and other Republicans have expressed support for something that punts the deadline into mid-January beyond the upcoming holidays. It’s also unclear if Republicans will make policy changes in the bill, but Thune said there were several compromises on the table.
“I think there are a number of things that we have made available to Democrats in terms of the path forward on appropriations,” Thune said. “Obviously we’ve indicated in the past that if they want to vote on whatever their Obamacare bill is (on) a certain date, they could have that vote. So it’s all these are things that I think, again, I’ve been saying for some time now.”
“But,” he added, “they’ve got to be willing to take yes for an answer.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., indicated earlier in the day that GOP leaders have been watching the calendar as they near Nov. 21, which is the original date appropriators chose for the spending extension. But even if lawmakers managed to pass that resolution this week, it would give lawmakers only 2½ weeks to pass year-long appropriations bills to fund the government — a highly unlikely scenario.
“We’re very mindful of the calendar. We’re very frustrated by that,” Johnson said. “It’s part of the reason we’re so angry about this, because they’re eating up the clock. And the Democrats know how much more we have to do here this year. We cannot do it if the government’s not open and not serving the people.”
But the chance to write a new spending resolution and get assurances from Republicans to negotiate Obamacare subsidy extensions in a separate bill could be enough to push more Democrats over party lines to end the shutdown.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., suggested on Monday that a new CR date could be a “small step in the right direction” toward ending the shutdown.
“The partisan Republican spending bill is dead on arrival,” Jeffries said on Monday. “If in the next day or so, House and Senate Republicans finally come to that conclusion (that their bill won’t pass), then maybe that’s a small step in the right direction as it relates to actually having bipartisan conversations to enact an enlightened spending bill that actually makes life better for the American people.”
The shutdown is set to enter its 35th day on Tuesday, making it tied for the longest shutdown in history. If the closure lasts through to Wednesday, it will officially become the longest shutdown on record.