Democrats are gearing up to reject a GOP stopgap funding bill and potentially spark a government shutdown. What happens then, no one seems to know. Two weeks ahead of the key deadline, party leaders are staking out a rhetorical hard line demanding that their Republican counterparts come to the negotiating table to discuss concessions on health care and other issues.
Congressional Democrats released bill text Wednesday night for their own stopgap spending proposal as they dig in against a House Republican-backed measure that would fund the government until late November. The new Democratic proposal links funding the government through October 31st to two of the party’s other priorities: health care assistance and placing limits on President Donald Trump’s ability to unilaterally roll back funds previously approved by Congress. The Democrats’ bill would extend boosted Affordable Care Act insurance subsidies that will otherwise expire on December 31st. It also would reverse cuts to Medicaid and other health programs that Republicans enacted as part of their party-line megabill this summer. Under their measure, Democrats are seeking to nix the fast-track process Congress can use to rescind funding on a simple-majority vote in the Senate, as Republicans did this summer in backing Trump’s request to claw back $9 billion for public broadcasting and foreign aid. The Democratic stopgap bill has virtually no chance of passing the Senate — much less getting to President Trump’s desk before the end-of-the-month deadline to avert a shutdown. But it allows Democrats to rally behind a plan that will win a broad swath of support among their members in the House and Senate.
For today, the House will vote on energy bills including H.R. 3062 – Promoting Cross-border Energy Infrastructure Act at 4 P.M.
The Senate will resume consideration of 48 en bloc nominations. The list.
