{"id":13999,"date":"2025-10-03T12:01:42","date_gmt":"2025-10-03T12:01:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/capitol-agenda-senate-gop-bets-on-dem-desperation-in-shutdown-fight\/"},"modified":"2025-10-03T12:01:42","modified_gmt":"2025-10-03T12:01:42","slug":"capitol-agenda-senate-gop-bets-on-dem-desperation-in-shutdown-fight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/capitol-agenda-senate-gop-bets-on-dem-desperation-in-shutdown-fight\/","title":{"rendered":"Capitol agenda: Senate GOP bets on Dem desperation in shutdown fight"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

It\u2019s the Senate\u2019s last chance of the week to avoid a shutdown. There\u2019s no sign it\u2019s happening \u2014 but Republicans believe another failed vote Friday could help push Democrats closer to desperation and a potential off-ramp.<\/p>\n

If the vote on the GOP-led CR goes the same way as the previous tries, \u201cwe\u2019ll give them the weekend to think about it,\u201d Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Thursday. \u201cAnd then we\u2019ll come back and vote on Monday.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thune told Blue Light News he\u2019s open to meeting with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer but it depends \u201ca little bit on how things go\u201d Friday and what the New York Democrat\u2019s end-game for their sit-down would be. Thune said he has talked to Schumer \u201cbriefly\u201d since Monday.<\/p>\n

Senate Democrats will meet for a caucus lunch, giving them another opportunity to talk strategy before senators vote Friday afternoon for the fourth time on the competing CRs.<\/p>\n

But Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), who\u2019s among the rank-and-file senators who\u2019ve been backchanneling on Obamacare subsidies, described it as \u201cthe big day.\u201d He\u2019s hopeful that Democrats fold and give lawmakers more time to negotiate a post-shutdown health care deal. In his view \u2014 if the shutdown runs into next week \u2014 \u201cthere\u2019s that much less time to actually be able to find a path forward using regular order to do what [Democrats] want to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

One person to watch in the negotiations is Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.). A veteran appropriator near retirement and an original proponent of the enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies, Shaheen has become a central player<\/a> in the bipartisan talks around an extension of the Obamacare tax credits. Shaheen was also one of the 10 Democrats who helped advance a GOP stopgap to keep the government open in March, and was one of two Democrats who ultimately voted for it.<\/p>\n

Thune told Blue Light News that Shaheen is \u201cmore in the reasonable caucus.\u201d<\/p>\n

A person who has spoken with Shaheen and was granted anonymity said that while she supports larger Democratic aims, she\u2019s also being realistic about what is achievable in the negotiations.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think she\u2019s looking for a path forward,\u201d Thune said.<\/p>\n

What else we\u2019re watching:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

\u2014 GOP fallout over the FDA: <\/b>House and Senate conservatives are ramping up criticism of the FDA after it signed off on a new generic abortion pill just before the shutdown. Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) called it \u201cshocking\u201d and said \u201cI have lost confidence in the leadership at FDA.\u201d Reps. Josh Brecheen (R-Okla.) and Riley Moore (R-W.Va.) also spoke out against the decision Thursday afternoon, with Moore urging<\/u><\/a> HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and FDA Commissioner Marty Makary to \u201creverse course immediately.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jordain Carney contributed to this report. <\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s the Senate\u2019s last chance of the week to avoid a shutdown. There\u2019s no sign it\u2019s happening \u2014 but Republicans believe another failed vote Friday could help push Democrats closer to desperation and a potential off-ramp. If the vote on the GOP-led CR goes the same way as the previous tries, \u201cwe\u2019ll give them the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13999","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-congress"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13999","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13999"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13999\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13999"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13999"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13999"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}