The Senate failed to reach an agreement to reopen the government on Friday, causing the federal shutdown to enter the weekend.
Meanwhile, the clerk of the House of Representatives read a letter from House Speaker Mike Johnson Friday afternoon saying that next week would be a “district work week,” sending the House home and guaranteeing the House would not need to convene.
As of right now, the Democrats and Republicans are in the same spot they were on Tuesday evening: Republicans want a clean stopgap spending bill called a continuing resolution to buy time to negotiate spending bills for a full fiscal year, while Democrats want to include a provision to extend enhanced subsidies for the Affordable Care Act’s health insurance marketplaces.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune said he would be available, but he likely would be back home in South Dakota over the weekend. And don’t expect a working group to get this truck out of the ditch: Thune’s fellow South Dakotan Sen. Mike Rounds said he is not optimistic about talks between Democrats and Republicans.
“I'm not optimistic that more than just a few of them want to get to ‘yes,’” Rounds told The Independent. “And it's unfortunate because their time is running out as well, because there is no way to begin working and trying to solve any issues surrounding any of the supplemental credits, the covid credits, that are expiring.”
Rounds said he knows the subsidies are a big problem and said Democrats need to come up with a solution by the beginning of November so states can make any modification to the cost of premiums.
“If not, Democrats set this up to expire on January 1 of 2026 it will expire at that time,” Rounds said. “And as long as they're in a shutdown, there is nobody negotiating on that, and we continue to share with them, this is not a case of where Republicans are running out of time.”
Other dealmakers like Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) told The Independent no talks are happening “I think, outside of casual conversations with colleagues you want to work with.”
“I'm gonna have to go back and find the last time the negotiating strategy of shutting down the government, when all that we've asked to do is continue funding while we negotiate things has ever happened,” Tillis said.
Meanwhile, President Donald Trump has turned Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought loose to determine which parts of government to keep open and which projects to cancel. Of course, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer warned that this would happen when he joined Republicans to keep the government open in March.
But Democrats seem to have five words for Vought: you’ve already done your worst.
“I'm worried about what everything he's done since he came in,” Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) told The Independent. “He says he wanted to traumatize federal employees and that's what he's doing and that's, and that's just kind of gratuitous cruelty.
Even Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), who joined Republicans to vote for the continuing resolution, expressed disappointment.
“It shows you how punitive the administration is they're not willing to get in a room and help us, and work with us to negotiate,” Cortez Masto told The Independent. “To them this is a game and it's unfortunate because the only people who are being hurt are the American people.”
At this point, both Democrats and Republicans have a major conundrum. For Democrats, their voters have been furious at them ever since Trump won. Their own voters are dissatisfied with them and think they do not stand up to Trump enough.
But Republicans have an allergy to prop up the Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as Obamacare. Thune opposed it in his first term as a senator while Rounds and Tillis flipped previously Democratic-held seats to because of their opposition to the law.
“The Obamacare enhanced or covid subsidies, are inflationary, and rates have been going up because that program is fundamentally flawed in the way it's designed,” Thune told The Independent when asked if he was worried about rising premiums in South Dakota.
This means that Schumer and Thune are waiting to see who can withstand the most pain before they tap out. In the coming weeks, stories will abound of national parks being canceled, Medicaid reimbursements being at risk and basic government services being unavailable. Whoever gives in first will ultimately lose.
A by the numbers look at the current Hispanic population in the United States
Trump and White House ramp up racist memes blaming Democrats for shutdown
Trump gives morbid answer when asked about his hopes for 2026: ‘I want to survive’
Trump calls Democrats ‘the party of hate, evil, and Satan’ in late-night rant
Trump tells Israel it ‘must immediately stop’ bombing Gaza after Hamas accepts deal
Treasury considers $1 coin with Trump’s image to mark America’s 250th anniversary
