The U.S. Senate is set to vote this afternoon on two short-term funding bills, one from Democrats and one from Republicans, as the government shutdown enters its third day. Both proposals have failed to gain the necessary bipartisan support in previous votes. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, a Republican from South Dakota, stated that if the bills are blocked again, the Senate will adjourn until Monday, extending the shutdown into a sixth day.
The shutdown began after lawmakers could not agree on a spending plan, with Democrats and Republicans at odds over issues such as Obamacare subsidies. Democrats are pushing for more than $1 trillion in health care programs and limits on President Trump’s spending power, while Republicans have resisted these demands.
Senator Chuck Schumer, the Senate Minority Leader, has called for bipartisan negotiations to craft a funding extension. However, Republicans argue that their bill, supported by President Donald Trump, would unlock future bipartisan negotiations on spending bills.
If the Senate fails to pass either bill today, the government shutdown will continue, affecting federal employees and services nationwide. The ongoing shutdown has led to the withholding of data from the monthly jobs report and changes to out-of-office emails for furloughed workers, which included partisan language blaming the shutdown on Democrats.
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