Senate holds rare weekend session amid ongoing government shutdown

The Senate is in for a uncommon weekend session because the chamber stays in limbo as lawmakers attempt to discover a means out of the federal government shutdown.

Behind the scenes, the appropriators are making ready a trio of spending payments to connect to the Home-passed Continuation Decision (CR), together with an extension of the invoice that, if handed, would reopen the federal government till December or January.

Whether or not there will probably be a vote on the up to date CR and spending bundle on Saturday continues to be up within the air. Senate Democrats will probably block the proposal, as they’ve completed fourteen instances earlier than. All of it comes because the Senate is ready to have a weeklong recess to coincide with Veterans Day.

DEMS BLOCK GOP BILL PROVIDES FOR FEDERAL EMPLOYEE, MILITARY PAY CHECKS TO CONTINUE DURING THE SHUTDOWN

Senate Majority Chief John Thune, R-S.D., needs to revive the federal government funding course of, however Senate Democrats seem unwilling to assist his efforts. (Nathan Posner/Anadolu by way of Getty Photos)

However Senate Majority Chief John Thune now needs to maintain lawmakers on the town till the shutdown ends.

When requested if the plan could be put to a vote, Thune stated it might be excellent to convey the bundle to the desk, however that “we have to have votes to truly cross it.” Republicans are reluctant to reissue the CR solely to see it fail.

“I have been speaking all morning with a few of the folks concerned within the assembly, and I feel we’re virtually completed,” Thune stated. “We simply need to get the lyrics out.”

Senate Minority Chief Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and his caucus, emboldened once more by landslide victories on Election Day earlier this week, are sticking with their just lately launched plan that may lengthen expiring Obamacare subsidies for an additional 12 months and create a bipartisan working group to barter subsequent steps after the federal government reopens.

However Senate Republicans instantly rejected the thought; Thune known as it a “non-starter,” whereas others within the Republican celebration have been offended in regards to the proposal.

Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., charged that he would name on President Donald Trump and his administration to chop funding for “pet initiatives” in blue states and cities to pay federal employees because the shutdown continues.

SCHUMER, DEMS UNVEIL ALTERNATIVE SHUTDOWN PLAN, ASK FOR ONE-YEAR EXTENSION FOR OBAMACARE GRANTS

WASHINGTON, DC – OCTOBER 7: Senate Minority Chief Chuck Schumer (D-NY) attends a press convention following a weekly Democratic coverage luncheon on Capitol Hill on October 7, 2025 in Washington, DC. The federal government stays shuttered after Congress failed to achieve a funding deal final week. (Picture by Andrew Harnik/Getty Photos) (Andrew Harnik/Getty Photos)

“The concept that you’ve gotten a bunch of kamikaze pilots making an attempt to burn the place down as a result of they’re emboldened by an election the place Democrats gained in Democratic areas is totally insane,” he stated.

Senate Democrats, nevertheless, have been largely unsurprised that Republicans rejected the provide.

“I do know many Republicans rushed out of the gate to reject this provide, however that could be a horrible mistake,” Schumer stated.

Thune and his convention have stated over the course of the 39-day shutdown that they’d not deal with the subsidies till the federal government reopens, and have supplied Schumer and Senate Democrats a vote on a invoice addressing the well being care situation as soon as the shutdown ends.

“I am not stunned,” stated Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz. “They do not wish to assist folks with their well being care.”

However Republicans countered that merely increasing the elevated subsidies, which have been modified underneath former President Joe Biden in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, would funnel cash on to insurers.

Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., has been in talks with Senate Democrats a few path ahead, particularly boosting authorities funding with the upcoming trio of spending payments.

THUNE SAYS ‘WHEELS COME OFF’ AS REPUBLICANS FACE NEXT SHUTDOWN MOUS

U.S. President Donald Trump awaits the arrival of Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on the White Home on October 20, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Photos)

After Schumer unveiled the Democrats’ plan, she charged that “since Obamacare went into impact, look: who’s gotten wealthy? It is not the folks.”

“They’re speaking about folks’s premiums and … they’re taking it to the businesses which can be truly earning profits from it? That is not true,” Britt stated. “So I sit up for listening to why on earth they wish to proceed these positive aspects and never truly assist the folks they serve.”

Nonetheless, Senate Democrats argue that their provide was truthful.

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Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., argued that some within the caucus wished a multi-year extension, whereas others wished to transcend simply the elevated subsidies. He reiterated his frustration that the crux of the problem, from his perspective, was that neither Schumer nor Thune would sit down to barter.

‘We’ve made a quite simple, actually scaled-down provide that enables the federal government to get again to work [is] Politically, that is superb for them,” he stated. “I nonetheless do not perceive why they do not wish to settle for the provide.”