{"id":15362,"date":"2025-11-07T13:02:12","date_gmt":"2025-11-07T13:02:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/capitol-agenda-decision-day-for-senate-dems\/"},"modified":"2025-11-07T13:02:12","modified_gmt":"2025-11-07T13:02:12","slug":"capitol-agenda-decision-day-for-senate-dems","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/capitol-agenda-decision-day-for-senate-dems\/","title":{"rendered":"Capitol agenda: Decision day for Senate Dems"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Get ready for a do-or-die Senate weekend.<\/p>\n

Senate GOP Leader John Thune will try to break the shutdown<\/a> impasse Friday. Democrats we\u2019ve spoken to say he won\u2019t succeed, as they dig in to force more GOP concessions in the coming days.<\/p>\n

Thune will tee up another vote on the House-passed CR Friday as part of a plan that could pave the way for ending the shutdown. The majority of Democrats said Thursday night they\u2019d block the effort \u2014 even as party moderates are talking with Republicans about an offer that would advance a minibus appropriations package and revised stopgap into at least December, with a promise of a future vote on extending Affordable Care Act subsidies.<\/p>\n

Some Republicans and Democrats are also discussing whether the revised stopgap funding deal could include language to reverse President Donald Trump\u2019s RIFs and add stronger provisions to guarantee back pay for federal workers, although key details still need to be hammered out.<\/p>\n

Both parties had seemed optimistic heading into this week. But the mood has turned gloomier, and those involved in bipartisan talks were skeptical there would be a breakthrough Friday. GOP leaders were noncommittal Thursday on whether the Senate would stay in Washington through the weekend.<\/p>\n

“Unfortunately, it’s folks trying to figure out a path forward. But there is no organized effort at this point that is bearing fruit,\u201d Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) told reporters Thursday. \u201cThere are attempts to find a way to bring people forward, but I’m discouraged. I’m hoping that overnight, things might change a little bit, but I’m not optimistic.”<\/p>\n

Voters are about to feel the pinch, with the Trump administration slashing flights and airlines pleading for Congress<\/u><\/a> to end the shutdown. Behind the scenes, some Senate Democrats are trying to come up with options to address the expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies that could realistically pass the House. Reaching a bipartisan agreement on the subsidies has become a difficult and politically challenging issue for Democrats, with many highly skeptical their GOP counterparts will ever follow through on the issue once the shutdown ends, Benjamin Guggenheim reports this morning<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Some freshman Democratic senators are trying to make progress: Sens. Andy Kim and Lisa Blunt Rochester plan to meet with GOP Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick (Penn.) and Jeff Van Drew (N.J.) Friday to talk about a possible bipartisan plan<\/a>. One Democratic aide involved in bipartisan talks said \u201cwe are not going to get a better offer.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe hardliners have yet to articulate any sense whatsoever of how they think this ends or any proposal to get Republicans to the table other than waiting longer and longer,\u201d another Democratic aide said. \u201cAnd in the meantime it\u2019s the families who can afford it the least that are increasingly getting walloped by the shutdown.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

\u2014 Crypto bill in progress: <\/b>Senate Agriculture Chair John Boozman said he came away from a Wednesday call with White House crypto and AI czar David Sacks feeling \u201c95 percent\u201d aligned on a major crypto market structure bill<\/p>\n

The Agriculture Committee is nearing a draft deal on its portion of the crypto bill that would outline oversight of the industry by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. The House passed its version of the overhaul of crypto regulations in March, and the crypto industry has been pushing for the Senate to pass its own version swiftly.<\/p>\n

\u2014 GOP fears LIHEAP funding cliff: <\/b>Many Republicans are fretting that constituents who rely on federal subsidies to help them pay their heating bills won\u2019t get support as the shutdown continues into the colder months. The Trump administration has proposed zeroing out the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program\u2019s entire budget making it unlikely to disburse additional funds without being compelled by Congress to do so through a government funding bill.<\/p>\n

Jordain Carney, Calen Razor, Andres Picon and Meredith Lee Hill contributed to this report. <\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Get ready for a do-or-die Senate weekend. Senate GOP Leader John Thune will try to break the shutdown impasse Friday. Democrats we\u2019ve spoken to say he won\u2019t succeed, as they dig in to force more GOP concessions in the coming days. Thune will tee up another vote on the House-passed CR Friday as part of […]<\/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-15362","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\/15362","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=15362"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15362\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15362"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15362"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15362"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}