1 of 4 | Senate Republican leader John Thune speaks at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on October 25. The lawmaker said Wednesday he’s seeing a “higher level of conversation” among senators about reopening the government. Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI | License Photo
Days before Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits are set to end and federal workers will lose a paycheck amid the nearly monthlong government shutdown, Senate Democrats appear to be taking a closer look at a Republican plan to reopen the government, lawmakers said Wednesday.
Senate Republican leader John Thune told reporters he thinks that bipartisan talks have “picked up,” describing them as a “higher level of conversation.”
“Deadlines have a way of doing that,” he told Politico.
“But there are a lot of rank-and-file members that continue, I think, to want to pursue solutions and be able to address the issues they care about, including healthcare, which … we’re willing to do, but it obviously is contingent upon them opening up the government,” Thune added.
At issue for Democrats are subsidies for Affordable Care Act premiums set to expire in the new year.
Despite Thune’s optimism that the stalemate might be coming to an end, Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, of New York, has said that Senate Democrats are still against stopgap legislation unless Republicans back extending the subsidies, The Hill reported.
The Trump administration has said it’s against extending the ACA subsidies, falsely claiming undocumented immigrants are taking advantage of it. Undocumented immigrants are not eligible for health insurance under the ACA, the federal healthcare.gov website states.
Meanwhile, Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., questioned Thune prediction of a possible agreement.
“There’s a lot of discussion going on now, but … normally, when you’re about to achieve a breakthrough, you’re going to have more formal negotiations, probably with three to five members on either side, and then it grows from there. I don’t see any evidence of that now,” he said, according to CBS News.
The SNAP program provides food aid to some 40 million Americans. In previous federal government shutdowns, the U.S. Department of Agriculture paid out SNAP benefits using a contingency fund, but last week, President Donald Trump said his administration won’t be doing that.
“We just can’t do it without the government being open,” Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said Oct. 21. “By Nov. 1, we are very hopeful this government reopens and we can begin moving that money out. But right now, half the states are shut down on SNAP.”
Twenty-five states said they will have to cut funding to SNAP benefits if the federal government doesn’t provide funding by Saturday. Those states sued Tuesday to force the government to release the money.
The Senate is next scheduled to vote on the House bill to fund the government on Thursday. It would be the upper chamber’s 14th vote on the legislation.
