The Senate, on day eight of the shutdown, again failed to end a filibuster on dueling stopgap spending bills as most Democrats continue to demand a bipartisan negotiation on health care to reopen the government.

No new Democrats voted for the House-passed stopgap bill, called a continuing resolution or CR, to re-up the previous fiscal year spending levels and policies through Nov. 21.

The 54-45 vote fell short of the 60 needed to overcome a filibuster. Three senators who caucus with the Democrats voted with all but one Republican to reopen the government.

Democrats’ counterproposal, which adds $1.5 trillion in health care and other spending to a stopgap measure that would last through Oct. 31, also was rejected, 47-52, along party lines.

Wednesday’s votes were the sixth time the Senate has rejected the dueling stopgaps and the fourth since the shutdown began last week.

“We want to have a serious negotiation to fix health care, so that people can see their costs go down,” Senate Democratic leader Charles E. Schumer of New York said. “And we can do both, fix health care and reopen the government. This is not an either-or thing, which Republicans are making it.”

Democrats’ top ask is to extend a COVID-era expansion of Obamacare subsidies that is set to expire this year. They want to act before open enrollment begins Nov. 1 and have said GOP offers of a commitment to negotiate are not enough.

“We need to solve the problem,” Mr. Schumer said. He said House Speaker Mike Johnson, Louisiana Republican, is “the true roadblock” to a deal because there are roughly 100 members of his conference who would never vote to extend the Obamacare subsidies.

Mr. Johnson and other Republican leaders continue to reject Democrats’ demands and say they won’t negotiate on health care until the government is open.

“There are some things that I think there’s interest on both sides in trying to address when it comes to health care in this country, but you can’t take the federal government hostage and expect to have a reasonable conversation on those issues,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune, South Dakota Republican, said.

He cited a Harvard-Harris poll released Monday that found 65% of respondents believe Democrats should end the shutdown by accepting a continuing resolution at current spending levels. That overall response was boosted by 90% of Republicans and 63% of independents, but only 39% of Democrats.

The poll also found that while 53% of respondents blame Republicans for the shutdown, 62% believe the GOP will win the showdown.

Sen. Thom Tillis, North Carolina, said he understands the pressure Democrats are under from their progressive base, but “there are plenty” of Democrats not running for reelection or not in the cycle who could “walk the plank” and vote to reopen the government.

“Why on earth should we give them any kind of political cover or leverage when they should have never — Chuck Schumer should have never led his conference into this sort of quagmire, when all we’re asking them to do is fund the government at current levels and basically do what they’ve done before,” he said.

Still, Mr. Tillis said he could see Democrats remaining obstinate as their liberal base prepares for nationwide “No Kings” protests on Oct. 18.

“So I’m sure the liberal progressives don’t want to capitulate between now and then,” he said, predicting the shutdown could last “another couple of weeks.”

Mr. Schumer dismissed the notion that Democrats are holding out until the No Kings protests.

“I haven’t heard a single Democrat in the Senate or the House make [that] argument,” he said.

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