The Senate on Friday again failed to get 60 votes needed to override a filibuster on a stopgap spending bill to reopen the government, effectively allowing the shutdown to drag into next week since the chamber has no plans to remain in session this weekend.

No new Democrats switched their votes to support the House-passed continuing resolution to extend spending levels and policies for the fiscal year that expired earlier in the week through Nov. 21.

Republicans are trying to convince five more Democrats — three already backed the GOP stopgap — to drop their unrelated demands for health care provisions and reopen the government.

“At some point, reason, good sense, common sense have to take effect here,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune, South Dakota Republican, said on the third day of the shutdown. 

Mr. Thune is planning to give Democrats the weekend “to think about it” before holding another vote on the GOP stopgap on Monday. It would be the fifth effort to pass the bill after two failed attempts before the shutdown began and government funding ran out on Tuesday.

“We saw the Republicans run the same play and they got the same result,” Senate Democratic leader Charles E. Schumer of New York said.  “The question is, will they change course? The votes aren’t there.”

The Senate has also had the same number of votes on a Democratic alternative to extend government funding through Oct. 31, but repeatedly rejected it along party lines. 

The Democrats’ counterproposal includes $1.5 trillion in spending, including a permanent extension of the pandemic-era expansion of Obamacare subsidies set to expire this year and a rollback of GOP cuts to Medicaid funding. 

Extending the enhanced Obamacare subsidies, which cap out-of-pocket premium costs at 8.5% of household income, is Democrats’ top demand for reopening the government.

Some rank-and-file Democrats have discussed voting to end the shutdown if Republicans provide a concrete path forward for negotiating an extension of the subsidies. But others still prefer the subsidies to be renewed in the legislation that reopens the government, given that open enrollment for the Obamacare exchanges begins Nov. 1 and it will be difficult, if not impossible, for insurers to adjust premiums after that. 

“Whatever we do has to give the American people certainty that these tax credits are going to be in place for them to make rational decisions for their families,” said Sen. Michael Bennet, Colorado Democrat.

House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York on Friday continued to call for an “ironclad legislative agreement,” saying Democrats can’t trust Republicans to extend the subsidies after they’ve spent the last 15 years working to gut the Affordable Care Act.

Mr. Thune and House Speaker Mike Johnson, Louisiana Republican, said they are willing to hold negotiations on the subsidies after the government reopens but cannot commit to an outcome.

“We can’t make commitments or promises on the COVID subsidies, because that’s not something that we can guarantee that there are the votes there to do,” the lawmakers said.

Mr. Johnson said Republicans can only commit to “do whatever is necessary” to bring down health care costs and improve the quality of health care.

“Some of the issues that they’re bringing to the table and they’re demanding immediate, easy answers for are not easy answers, and they take a long time to deliberate,” he said.

Mr. Schumer has avoided boxing his caucus in with specifics of what he needs to end the shutdown as he continues to call for bipartisan negotiations with Mr. Trump and GOP leaders. None have occurred since their meeting at the White House on Monday.

Mr. Thune said he doesn’t see a need to meet with Mr. Schumer. 

“I think the path forward on this is more likely to be achieved with rank and file members who actually want to have an appropriations process, want to get us back on track on the calendar, legislatively,” he said. “I understand the predicament he is in, but we’ve got to get the government opened up.”

Mr. Schumer has likewise encouraged the discussions occurring among rank-and-file senators in both parties. But he said Democrats involved are telling him “the Republicans didn’t offer anything really new.”

“Democrats want to go back and negotiate again, but they got to negotiate with something, get something in return,” he said. 

South Dakota Sen. Mike Rounds, one of the Republicans involved in the bipartisan talks, said he understands the urgency to act on the Obamacare subsidies before Nov. 1 but accused Democrats of wasting time. He said substantive negotiations on extending the Obamacare subsidies won’t begin until Democrats vote for the GOP stopgap to reopen the government. 

Republicans are split on whether to extend the enhanced subsidies at all, as many conservatives say the policy was designed to help with the COVID-19 crisis and that is over. 

Those in the GOP who are willing to renew the enhanced subsidies want to make changes to protect against fraud. There’s also an intra-party debate about whether there need to be provisions added to ensure the subsidies don’t indirectly support abortion coverage. 

“This is not going to be easy to do, not impossible,” Mr. Rounds said. “But the reason why you’re not getting any promises on this is because this is going to be difficult and it’s going to take some really hard work to do.”

• Lindsey McPherson can be reached at lmcpherson@washingtontimes.com.