The Senate just reconvened this afternoon to vote for an 11th time on advancing a House-passed measure to fund the government and end the ongoing shutdown. The bill has fallen short of the 60 votes needed to advance in every vote so far, and there are no signs that the dynamic has changed. The next vote is scheduled for 5:30 P.M. With 53 Republicans, support from Democrats is necessary to reopen the government, and while Republicans have been hoping to pick up new support from Democrats on the measure with the repeat votes, the bill has failed to gain any new votes from across the aisle since the shutdown began. Democratic Senators John Fetterman of Pennsylvania and Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada have voted with Republicans in support of the measure, along with Sen. Angus King, a Maine independent who caucuses with Democrats. GOP Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky has voted against the bill.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-South Dakota) is also expected to bring up a bill this week that would pay federal employees and military service members who have continued to work during the shutdown. Advancing the legislation would require support from Democrats, who blocked a long-term defense spending bill from advancing last week.
The House is expected to remain away from Washington this week, again, as GOP leaders continue to put the responsibility on the Senate to reopen the government. The House hasn’t voted since September 19th. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) said he would bring the House back if the Senate voted to pay federal workers and members of the military, but indicated he thinks that is highly unlikely.
