Deadlock continues as government funding lapse hits two weeks

The Senate on Tuesday evening was scheduled to vote for the eighth time on a House-passed spending measure to reopen some shuttered  government offices. But House leaders did not expect to pass the measure. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise said Tuesday that he believed Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer would keep the government closed until after the upcoming No Kings anti-Trump protest on October 18. Scalise accused Schumer of doing so to gain traction with his political base. Scalise and other Republican House leaders on Tuesday urged Democrats to break ranks with Schumer. Just five Democratic votes in the Senate were needed to pass a short-term continuing resolution and end the shutdown, they said.

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., emphasized that the funding extension didn’t contain policy changes. There was nothing to negotiate, he said. Johnson accused Schumer and Democrats of preferring to negotiate through backroom deals rather than line-by-line debate on the budget.

What did Democratic leaders say about the shutdown? Schumer on Sunday accused President Donald Trump and Office of Management and Budget head Russell Vought of using Americans as pawns in their plan to lay off more federal workers during the shutdown.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries on Tuesday said Democrats wanted to open the government and address healthcare issues, while Republicans were responsible for the shutdown. Republicans couldn’t be trusted to maintain the Affordable Care Act, he said on Monday.

Which parts of the Democrats’ budget counterproposal do Republicans oppose? The Democrats’ budget counterproposal included $1.5 trillion in spending to reinstate initiatives Republicans recently cut or changed, according to Scalise:

• Allowing illegal immigrants to resume receiving federally funded healthcare

• Removing recently passed work requirements for Medicaid

• Refunding the Corporation for Public Broadcasting

• More foreign spending for initiatives Republicans characterized as unserious, such as feminist activism in Africa

• Extending Affordable Care Act Tex credits

Dig deeper: Listen to financial adviser David L. Bahnsen’s take on the shutdown on The World and Everything in It.