Top Senate Republicans and Democrats reached a deal Thursday night to tee up two votes on Friday on the two parties’ competing approaches to averting a partial government shutdown when current agency funding expires at the end of the month.
Under the agreement announced by Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., and Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., assuming the House passes the GOP-drafted, seven-week continuing resolution, then the Senate would take up Democrats’ alternative proposal first. That would be subject to a 60-vote threshold for passage.
If Democrats can’t get 60 votes for their bill — which they aren’t expecting — then the chamber would proceed to a vote on the House-passed CR, also with a 60-vote threshold. That vote is also not expected to succeed.
However, the idea is for the two sides to head home for the weekend armed with proof that they have to start talking to each other about a compromise that can get 60 votes and get to President Donald Trump’s desk in time to prevent a shutdown.
Schumer had proposed the arrangement earlier in the day, with an eye toward getting the initial votes over with in time for senators to attend conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s funeral in Arizona on Sunday.
There is a vast gulf between the two bills at present. The Republicans’ stopgap bill would extend current funding authority through Nov. 21. The Democrats’ version ends at Oct. 31, and adds a permanent extension of enhanced health insurance subsidies set to expire at the end of the year, among other provisions opposed by the majority of Republicans and the White House.
There are backchannel negotiations occurring on the health care tax credits between members of both parties who don’t want to let the policy lapse entirely — which the Congressional Budget Office said Thursday could throw up to 2 million people off of health insurance during an election cycle next year.
Schumer suggested Wednesday night that if Republican leaders came to the table to discuss a compromise, his caucus might let the “clean” House-passed CR go through, with a promise to deal with the health care subsidies before they expire or possibly sooner. Open enrollment for the exchanges begins Nov. 1, and premium rates are already being set.
There was no guarantee such talks would occur, however, and Thune would retain the option of reconsidering the House-passed bill closer to the Sept. 30 when Democrats would be under more pressure to relent to avoid a shutdown.
First, the measure has to pass the House on Friday morning. GOP leaders in that chamber were confident, despite some lingering concerns that the $30 million added to the bill for lawmaker security precautions wasn’t enough.
“Republicans are going to do the responsible thing; we will pass a CR here tomorrow out of the House. I suspect and it sounds like we won’t have many Democrats to assist in that,” Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said Thursday night on Fox News.
The House Administration Committee on Thursday agreed to extend a pilot program that allows members to hire private protection services, and doubled the monthly stipend for that to $10,000.
The Senate late Thursday also took steps to enhance its own members’ security resources, agreeing by unanimous consent to a resolution allowing senators to tap their office budgets for security needs.
Thune said there would be additional funds included in the forthcoming fiscal 2026 Legislative Branch conference report, and that senators are working with the sergeant-at-arms’ office “to identify additional authorities for security options for senators.”
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