Republican congressional leaders said Wednesday they will not negotiate with Democrats while they hold government funding “hostage” for their “radical” demands of $1.5 trillion in health care and other spending.
The House and Senate GOP leadership teams held a press conference on the morning of the first day of the government shutdown to show a united front in support of their party’s stopgap spending bill.
The House-passed measure, which the Senate will vote on Wednesday for the third time, would fund the government through Nov. 21. The stopgap largely continues the spending levels and policies that expired with the end of the fiscal year on Tuesday, with some typical anomalies for flexibility around national defense, nutrition and other critical programs.
“There isn’t anything we can do to make this bill any better for [Democrats],” said House Speaker Mike Johnson, Louisiana Republican. “We literally did not put one single partisan provision in the bill. There’s no policy riders, there’s no gimmicks and no tricks.”
Most Democrats oppose the GOP bill because they want to add health care provisions, with their top ask being a permanent extension of the pandemic-era expansion of Obamacare premium subsidies. They also want to put guardrails on the appropriations in the bill so that the Trump administration cannot unilaterally freeze or cut programs Congress intended to fund.
Senate Republican Conference Chair Tom Cotton, Arkansas Republican, said the only way out of the shutdown is for Senate Democrats to help pass the seven-week stopgap.
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“Until then, there’s nothing to negotiate, there’s no compromises to be had, there’s no games, there’s no back channels,” he said. “Senate Democrats will hopefully do the right thing. And if they don’t today, then they’ll have another chance later this week and next week and as long as it takes until the Senate passes the House bill.”
Senate Democratic leader Charles E. Schumer of New York said Republicans do not have the votes and “need to get serious.”
“It’s clear that the way out of this shutdown is to sit down and negotiate with Democrats to address the looming health care crisis that faces tens of millions of American families,” he said, referring to premium hikes that will occur if the Obamacare subsidies expire. “Democrats want to avert this crisis, but Republicans tried to bully us, and it’s clear they can’t.”
Republicans are labeling the government funding impasse the “Schumer shutdown” because they believe he is only blocking the funding stopgap to appease his party’s base, which was irate after Mr. Schumer helped the GOP pass a similar stopgap in March.
“Chuck Schumer wants to try to prove to somebody that he’s more liberal than AOC,” said Senate Republican Whip John Barrasso, referring to New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, whom some on the left want to run against Mr. Schumer in 2028.
Mr. Barrasso of Wyoming said “cracks started to appear in the Democrat base” on Tuesday when three Senate Democrats voted for the GOP stopgap to keep the government open.
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Republicans only need to flip five more votes to reopen the government. Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota said conversations to that end have been happening as some Democratic senators appear uncomfortable with their leadership’s strategy.
House Republican Whip Tom Emmer of Minnesota said Democrats ought to listen to their past remarks on government shutdowns where they argued that it’s wrong to hold the government and federal workers hostage. He said they are now doing that with their “$1.5 trillion ransom note of radical demands.”
“Make no mistake, their top priority is not fighting for Americans’ health care,” Mr Emmer said. “Their top priority is picking a fight with President Trump and scoring political points with their far-left base in the process.”
• Lindsey McPherson can be reached at lmcpherson@washingtontimes.com.