Majority Leader John Thune wants to move on a package of full-year funding bills for multiple agencies as a shutdown stalemate drags on.
Why it matters: He will need at least seven Democrats to vote "yes" on a procedural vote Thursday to even get the process going.
- Thune told Axios in an interview that he has informed some Democrats that his plan is to move to the Senate's version of the Defense spending bill and build out a mini-package with "as many [bills] as we as we can."
- Bills to fund Transportation and Housing and Urban Development, along with Labor and Health and Human Services would be top of the list, he said. Defense, Labor and HHS typically move together.
The intrigue: But Thune has not made this pitch directly to Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), he said.
- When pressed on why, he responded, "I'm not sure that I have to go ask permission," arguing that the first step is getting an agreement to even consider the bill.
- That would be the early procedural vote scheduled for Thursday afternoon.
- Thune told Axios that he appealed to Democrats on the floor just before the interview, saying "if you're a Democrat who's interested in having an appropriations process, and if we don't get the [other appropriation bills] added... then you can always block it."
What to watch: Schumer said Thursday that Thune would not get unanimous consent to combine the bills.
- Asked if he could muster the support to combine the bills, Thune told Axios: "We'll find out."
- "I mean, if we had a vote, we probably would," he said, but added that it would take unanimous consent to get around Senate rules to add bills beyond the one passed by the House.
