Centrist Senate Democrats are scrambling to cut a deal to reopen the government \u2014 and they\u2019re running headfirst into a wall of fury from their own party\u2019s left flank.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A handful of moderates, including retiring Sens. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) and Gary Peters (D-Mich.), have been quietly whipping votes for a plan they think could end the 36-day shutdown. But progressives are already unloading on the effort, and the internal turmoil threatens to blow up any breakthrough before it gets off the ground, according to senators and aides involved in the talks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.) has also signaled support, giving the centrist push more weight. As one senator put it, \u201cThere\u2019s a plan, we\u2019ve all kind of semiagreed to it and we\u2019re now seeing not whether [Senate Democratic Leader Chuck] Schumer will support it but whether he will not blow it up.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So far, Democrats appear to have around eight votes \u2014 enough to crack open the door to a bipartisan deal if Republicans can hold their ranks. Shaheen, Peters, and Hassan joining forces would leave GOP leaders needing only a couple more votes to get the government funded again. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) has already rejected previous funding bills, meaning Republicans need Democratic help.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sens. John Fetterman (D-Pa.), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), and independent Sen. Angus King (Maine) have signaled they\u2019re ready to move \u2014 and Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) is seen as likely to back reopening the government, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But progressives are livid, accusing centrists of selling out without securing meaningful commitments on health-care costs \u2014 a key demand of Democratic leadership throughout the standoff. \u201cTo me, it looked like there were eight votes, but it could change. There\u2019s a lot to think about,\u201d one Democrat warned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rep.-turned-Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) made her terms clear: \u201cWhen there\u2019s a deal and we get something on health care, I\u2019ll be ready to reopen the government.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The emerging agreement would send Congress back to work on annual spending bills and promise a vote to extend expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies. But Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) put Democrats on notice, declaring that any subsidy extension \u201cwould need 60 votes\u201d \u2014 shutting down dreams of a simple-majority shortcut.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Progressives are praying that Schumer steps in to block the centrist rebellion. As one Democratic senator grumbled, \u201cThat\u2019s what leadership is all about\u2026 That requires a person with the hand on the tiller.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Schumer isn\u2019t biting \u2014 at least not publicly. \u201cWe had a very good caucus, and we\u2019re exploring all the options,\u201d he said after a tense two-hour lunch where moderates and liberals reportedly clashed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Liberals hammered home their warning: cut a deal without real health-care concessions, and expect a political blowback. Some Democrats worry that caving now \u2014 without forcing President Trump to the table on health-care cost reforms \u2014 will demoralize the party\u2019s base just as its enthusiasm begins to rebound.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe response to that was, \u2018Let\u2019s not destroy ourselves over this,\u2019\u201d a source said of moderates\u2019 plea for unity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) took the fight to the floor, blasting any plan that doesn\u2019t secure major health-care gains. \u201cThis may well be the most consequential moment in American history since the Civil War,\u201d he thundered, vowing, \u201cI will not vote for a budget that throws 15 million Americans off the health care that they have. I will not be voting for a budget that doubles premiums for 20 million Americans.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Meanwhile, negotiators are eyeing a package that would fund parts of the government into 2026 \u2014 tied to a short-term continuing resolution stretching to mid-December or mid-January. But centrists have not secured commitments from enough Republicans, and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) hasn\u2019t promised to even put a subsidy vote on the floor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Schumer took one more swing at Republicans as the Obamacare enrollment window opened: \u201cWe\u2019re going to keep fighting day after day, vote after vote, until Republicans put working families of the wealthy few,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Centrist Senate Democrats are scrambling to cut a deal to reopen the government \u2014 and they\u2019re running headfirst<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3389,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3388","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/states-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3388","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/states-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/states-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/states-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/states-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3388"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/states-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3388\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3390,"href":"https:\/\/states-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3388\/revisions\/3390"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/states-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3389"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/states-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3388"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/states-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3388"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/states-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3388"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}