Senate Democrats rejected for the 10th time Thursday a stopgap spending bill that would reopen the government, insisting they won't back away from demands that Congress take up health care benefits. The vote failed Thursday morning on a 51-45 vote, well short of the 60 needed to advance with the Senate's filibuster rules, per the AP. The standoff has now lasted over two weeks, leaving hundreds of thousands of federal workers furloughed, even more without a guaranteed payday and Congress essentially paralyzed.
"Every day that goes by, there are more and more Americans who are getting smaller and smaller paychecks," said Senate Majority Leader John Thune, adding that there have been thousands of flight delays across the country as well. Thune, a South Dakota Republican, again and again has tried to pressure Democrats to break from their strategy of voting against the stopgap funding bill. It hasn't worked. And while some bipartisan talks have been ongoing about potential compromises on health care, they haven't produced any meaningful progress toward reopening the government.
Democrats say they won't budge until they get a guarantee on extending the tax credits for the health plans. They warn that millions of Americans who buy their own health insurance—such as small-business owners, farmers and contractors—will see large increases when premium prices go out in the coming weeks. Looking ahead to a Nov. 1 deadline in most states, they think voters will demand that Republicans enter into serious negotiations. "The ACA crisis is looming over everyone's head, and yet Republicans seem ready to let people's premiums spike," said Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer in a floor speech.
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