Democratic and Republican senators in the United States are working through the weekend to find a compromise and end the longest government shutdown in the country’s history.
But the bipartisan talks yielded few signs of progress on Saturday as the workday ended without a deal on reopening the government.
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The Senate is set to try again with a rare Sunday session.
The impasse has now lasted 39 days and is taking an increasing toll on the country as federal workers go unpaid, airlines cancel flights, and food aid has been delayed for millions of Americans.
Saturday’s session got off to a rough start when President Donald Trump made clear he is unlikely to compromise any time soon with Democrats, who are seeking a one-year extension on an expiring health insurance subsidy under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as Obamacare.
Trump urged Republican senators on social media to redirect federal money used to subsidise health insurance premiums towards direct payments to individuals.
“I am recommending to Senate Republicans that the Hundreds of Billions of Dollars currently being sent to money sucking Insurance Companies in order to save the bad Healthcare provided by ObamaCare, BE SENT DIRECTLY TO THE PEOPLE SO THAT THEY CAN PURCHASE THEIR OWN, MUCH BETTER, HEALTHCARE, and have money left over,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform, without offering details.
The ACA marketplaces allow people to buy policies directly from health insurers and mainly serve people who do not have coverage through employers or the Medicare and Medicaid government programmes.
Some 24 million people in the US use those subsidies.
For those enrolled in ACA exchanges, premiums, on average, are expected to more than double next year if Congress allows the enhanced subsidies to lapse.
Democrats demand that Republicans agree to negotiate an extension of federal healthcare subsidies before reopening the government. Republicans say the government must reopen first.
‘Another path forward’
Senator Jeanne Shaheen, a Democrat from New Hampshire, who is leading the talks among moderates, said on Friday evening that Democrats “need another path forward” after Republicans rejected the offer from Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer of New York to reopen the government and extend the subsidies for a year.
Shaheen and others, negotiating among themselves and with some rank-and-file Republicans, have been discussing bills that would pay for parts of government – food aid, veterans programmes and the legislative branch, among other things – and extend funding for everything else until December or January.
The agreement would only come with the promise of a future healthcare vote, rather than a guarantee of extended subsidies.
It was unclear whether enough Democrats would support such a plan. Even with a deal, Trump appears unlikely to support an extension of the health benefits. House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson also said this week that he would not commit to a health vote.
Republicans hold a 53-47 majority but need 60 votes to reopen the government.
Al Jazeera’s Mike Hanna, reporting from Washington, DC, described the Senate’s weekend session as “very unusual”.
“But no vote was taken in the course of the day. The Republicans are not wanting to hold a vote unless they are certain that they can get those 60 votes needed to pass a legislation or change the procedure,” Hanna said.
Trump, for his part, has once again urged the Republicans to end the filibuster, which requires agreement by 60 of the Senate’s 100 members to pass most legislation.
“The Republicans could do this with a simple majority,” Hanna said. “However, Republicans are concerned about doing this because they feared that the lack of an investor would act against them, if… the Democrats take power in the Senate.”
With the Republicans rejecting Trump’s call, Senate Republican Leader John Thune is eyeing a bipartisan package that mirrors the proposal the moderate Democrats have been sketching out. What Thune, who has refused to negotiate, might promise on healthcare is unknown.
The package would replace the House-passed legislation that the Democrats have rejected 14 times since the shutdown began on October 1. The current bill would only extend government funding until November 21.
A test vote on new legislation could come in the next few days if Thune decides to move forward.
Then the Democrats would have a crucial choice: Keep fighting for a meaningful deal on extending the subsidies that expire in January, while prolonging the pain of the shutdown; or vote to reopen the government and hope for the best, as Republicans promise an eventual healthcare vote but not a guaranteed outcome.
Schumer on Saturday persisted in arguing that Republicans should accept a one-year extension of the subsidies before negotiating the future of the tax credits.
“Doing nothing is derelict because people will go bankrupt, people will lose insurance, people will get sicker,” Schumer said in a floor speech. “That’s what will happen if this Congress fails to act.”
