{"id":281759,"date":"2025-11-14T03:39:03","date_gmt":"2025-11-14T03:39:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/281759\/"},"modified":"2025-11-14T03:39:03","modified_gmt":"2025-11-14T03:39:03","slug":"republicans-reject-democratic-offer-to-end-shutdown-extend-health-care-subsidies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/281759\/","title":{"rendered":"Republicans reject Democratic offer to end shutdown, extend health care subsidies"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Senate Majority Leader John Thune speaking to reporters at the Capitol in Washington on Friday. He said the Democrats’ offer to reopen government is a ‘non-starter.’J. Scott Applewhite\/The Associated Press<\/p>\n

Senate Majority Leader John Thune quickly swatted down a Democratic offer to reopen the government and extend expiring health care subsidies for a year, calling it a \u201cnon-starter\u201d as the partisan impasse over the shutdown continued into its 38th day.<\/p>\n

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer made the offer to reopen the government on Friday as Republicans have refused to negotiate on their demands to extend health care subsidies. It was a much narrowed version of a broad proposal Democrats laid out a month ago to make the health tax credits permanent and reverse Medicaid cuts that Republicans enacted earlier this year.<\/p>\n

Travellers in limbo as shutdown-related flight cancellations come into effect<\/a><\/p>\n

Explainer: How the government shutdown could affect Canadian travellers<\/a><\/p>\n

Schumer offered Republicans simultaneous votes to end the government shutdown and extend the expiring health care subsidies, along with a bipartisan committee to address Republican demands for changes to the Affordable Care Act.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll Republicans have to do is say yes,\u201d Schumer said.<\/p>\n

But Republicans quickly said no, and Thune reiterated that they would not trade offers on health care until the government is reopened. \u201cThat\u2019s what we\u2019re going to negotiate once the government opens up,\u201d Thune said after Schumer made his proposal on the floor.<\/p>\n

Thune said he thinks the offer is an indication that Democrats are \u201cfeeling the heat.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI guess you could characterize that as progress,\u201d he said. \u201cBut I just don\u2019t think it gets anywhere close to what we need to do here.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was unclear what may happen next. Thune has suggested a weekend Senate session was possible. President Donald Trump<\/a> called on the Senate to stay in town \u201cuntil they have a Deal to end the Democrat Shutdown.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite the stalemate, lawmakers in both parties were feeling increased urgency to alleviate the growing crisis at airports, pay government workers and restore delayed food aid to millions of people. Thune pleaded with Democrats as he opened the Senate on Friday to \u201cend these weeks of misery.\u201d<\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Travellers in line at a security checkpoint at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston on Friday. The U.S. government ordered airlines to reduce service nationwide, cancelling hundreds of flights.Ashley Landis\/The Associated Press<\/p>\n

As leaders of the two parties disagreed, a small group of Democrats led by New Hampshire Sen. Jeanne Shaheen continued to negotiate among themselves and with rank-and-file Republicans on a deal that would end the shutdown.<\/p>\n

The group has been discussing for weeks a vote for a group of bills that would pay for parts of government \u2013 food aid, veterans programs and the legislative branch, among other things \u2013 and extend funding for everything else until December or January. The three annual spending bills that would likely be included are the product of bipartisan negotiations that have continued through the shutdown.<\/p>\n

But the contours of that agreement would only come with the promise of a future health care vote, rather than a guarantee that Affordable Care Act subsidies are extended by the end of the year. Many Democrats have said that\u2019s unacceptable.<\/p>\n

Still, Republican leaders only need five additional votes to fund the government, and the group involved in the talks has ranged from 10 to 12 Democratic senators.<\/p>\n

Trump urged Republicans at a White House breakfast on Wednesday to end the shutdown quickly and scrap the legislative filibuster, which requires 60 Senate votes for most legislation, so that they bypass Democrats altogether and fund the government.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am totally in favor of terminating the filibuster, and we would be back to work within 10 minutes after that vote took place,\u201d Trump said Friday.<\/p>\n

Republicans have emphatically rejected Trump\u2019s call, and Thune has instead been eyeing a bipartisan package that mirrors the proposal the moderate Democrats have been sketching out. But it unclear what Thune, who has refused to negotiate, would promise on health care.<\/p>\n

The package would replace the House-passed legislation that the Democrats have now rejected fourteen times. That bill would only extend government funding until Nov. 21, a date that is rapidly approaching after six weeks of inaction.<\/p>\n

A test vote on new legislation could come in the next few days if Thune decides to move forward.<\/p>\n

Then Democrats would have a crucial choice to make: Do they keep fighting for a meaningful deal on extending the subsidies that expire in January, while prolonging the pain of the shutdown? Or do they vote to reopen the government and hope for the best as Republicans promise an eventual health care vote, but not a guaranteed outcome?<\/p>\n

After a caucus meeting on Thursday, most Democrats suggested they would continue to hold out for Trump and Republican leaders to agree to negotiations.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s what leaders do,\u201d said Senator Ben Ray Lujan of New Mexico. \u201cYou have the gavel, you have the majority, you have to bring people together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Senator Brian Schatz of Hawaii said Democrats are \u201cobviously not unanimous\u201d but \u201cwithout something on health care, the vote is very unlikely to succeed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Democrats are facing pressure from unions eager for the shutdown to end and from allied groups that want them to hold firm. Many Democrats have argued that the wins for Democrats on Election Day show voters want them to continue the fight until Republicans yield and agree to extend the health tax credits.<\/p>\n

A vote on the health care subsidies \u201chas got to mean something,\u201d said Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, an independent who caucuses with the Democrats. \u201cThat means a commitment by the speaker of the House, that he will support the legislation, that the President will sign.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Speaker Mike Johnson made clear he will not make any commitments. \u201cI\u2019m not promising anybody anything,\u201d Johnson said on Thursday when asked if he could promise a vote on a health care bill.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Senate Majority Leader John Thune speaking to reporters at the Capitol in Washington…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":281760,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,49,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,84,392,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,865,61,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":["post-281759","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-health","tag-healthcare","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281759","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=281759"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281759\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/281760"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=281759"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=281759"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=281759"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}