Senate Republicans are worried about the precedent that Senate Democrats have set for future funding fights as the shutdown continues into its 20th day.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and the Democratic caucus have dug in deep on their demand for an extension to expiring Obamacare subsidies and have worked to spin the narrative from a battle to fund the government to a fistfight for healthcare.
But it’s been over three weeks since Schumer and Democrats blocked Republicans’ first attempt to pass the House GOP’s continuing resolution (CR). And since then, there are no signs that Democrats are willing to back down from their demands.
‘I think Schumer has basically sort of destroyed the institution of the Senate,’ Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., told Fox News Digital. ‘He has, you know, whether it’s what he’s done on the nominees or with this shutdown. I think he’s made government unmanageable. So, hopefully, this is not the way we continue to operate.’
Informal talks between the parties have ebbed and flowed over the course of the shutdown, but neither side is any closer to an off-ramp than they were when the first vote failed late last month.
Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., has been involved in those talks but noted that this week they have been fading. When asked if he was worried that Democrats’ shutdown posture might be replicated in the future, he told Fox News Digital, ‘I can’t worry about their position.’
‘It doesn’t make sense,’ he said. ‘If there was a strategy behind it, OK, we get out, we can figure out how to move them. But there is no strategy. It’s just like, burn it all down.’
Senate Republicans now view Democrats’ shutdown position as a hostage-taking exercise, with no real ground for negotiations until after the government reopens.
‘We can’t negotiate with them until we come out of shutdown,’ Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., told Fox News Digital. ‘You can’t hold the government hostage. And that’s why it’s very important — we’ve said we’ll work on all these different issues they want to bring up. But you can’t shut down the government, hold the government hostage as part of negotiation.’
The informal talks, which Republicans quickly note aren’t full-blown negotiations, have produced an olive branch of sorts from Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., who signaled to Senate Democrats that he would offer them a vote on the Affordable Care Act (ACA) premium tax credits if they voted to reopen the government.
But for a 10th time on Thursday, they blocked his effort to turn the lights back on and then hours later blocked a procedural move to allow lawmakers to consider the annual defense spending bill.
In both instances, Democrats wanted guarantees that Thune and Republicans could not provide.
‘The Dems, someday, they’re going to rue the day they did this, because we have offered up an open appropriations process, regular order, doing things that way,’ Thune told Fox News Digital.
‘I think it’s unfortunate, but it’s a reality that we’re dealing with,’ he continued. ‘And I hope they change their mind and realize that it’s in everybody’s best interest to try and at least get the government open and then start going to work and funding the government the old-fashioned way.’
Many Republicans hope that after the ‘No Kings’ rally in Washington, D.C., over the weekend that Senate Democrats may have a change of heart.
But others see it as a performative opportunity for congressional Democrats to show they are fighting back against President Donald Trump and the GOP.
‘Typically, if you reward bad behavior, you get more bad behavior,’ Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, told Fox News Digital. ‘That’s what the Democrats are basically doing. They’re pretending that President Trump didn’t get elected last November. That’s basically the whole fight, because they have the goofballs that are going to be here Saturday, so they have to show the goofballs they’re fighting.’