Washington: Hopes for a quick end to the government shutdown were fading Friday as Republicans and Democrats dug in for a prolonged fight and President Donald Trump readied plans to unleash layoffs and cuts across the federal government.
Senators were headed back to the Capitol for another vote on government funding on the third day of the shutdown, but there has been no sign of any real progress toward ending their standoff.
Democrats are demanding that Congress extend health care benefits, while Republicans are trying to wear them down with day after day of voting on a House-passed bill that would reopen the government temporarily, mostly at current spending levels.
“I don’t know how many times you’re going to give them a chance to vote no,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune said at a news conference Friday. He added that he would give Democratic senators the weekend to think it over.
Although Republicans control the White House and both chambers of Congress, the Senate’s filibuster rules make it necessary for the government funding legislation to gain support from at least 60 of the 100 senators.
That’s given Democrats a rare opportunity to use their 47 Senate seats to hold out in exchange for policy concessions. The party has chosen to rally on the issue of health care, believing it could be key to their path back to power in Washington.
Their primary demand is that Congress extend tax credits that were boosted during the COVID-19 pandemic for health care plans offered under the Affordable Care Act marketplace.
Standing on the steps of the US Capitol on Thursday, House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries said, “Understand this, over the last
few days and over the next few days, what you’re going to see is more than 20 million Americans experience dramatically increased health care premiums, co-pays and deductibles because of the Republican unwillingness to extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits.”
Democrats are running the high-risk strategy of effectively voting for a government shutdown to make their stand. Trump has vowed to make it as painful as possible for them.
The Republican president has called the government funding lapse an “unprecedented opportunity” to make vast cuts to federal agencies and potentially lay off federal workers, rather than the typical practice of furloughing them. White House budget director Russ Vought has already announced that he is withholding billions of dollars for infrastructure projects in states with Democratic senators.
On Friday morning, Vought said he would withhold another USD 2.1 billion for Chicago infrastructure projects to extend its train system to the city’s South Side.
Jeffries has displayed no signs of budging under those threats.