Top congressional leaders from both parties dug in Sunday on their opposing demands amid the government shutdown, signaling the standoff will likely drag on when the Senate returns this week.
Democrats have largely withheld their votes from a short-term plan to fund the government, insisting that Republicans make major policy concessions on health care before Americans start enrolling in another year of insurance on November 1.
They’re accusing Republicans of refusing to work with them, while GOP leaders have laid out their unwillingness to address expiring enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies until the shutdown ends. The Senate has taken four failed votes to advance a stopgap bill that would keep the government open through November 21.
“We’re at a stalemate,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune conceded on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures,” calling Democrats’ desires to reverse Medicaid cuts implemented in President Donald Trump’s policy package a “nonstarter.”
“It’s not serious, it’s not reasonable, it’s not realistic,” he said, adding that Democrats need to understand “their option in front of them here is to open up the government, and then we can talk about all these other
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