Shutdown Day 39: Thune says he will keep Senate in Washington until impasse breaks

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate will reconvene Sunday afternoon after a Saturday session failed to materialize any deals to reopen the federal government on the 39th day of the U.S. shutdown.

The rare weekend session underscores the pressure both parties are facing to reopen the government, as food assistance funding is in limbo and airports across the country report delays, but both sides showed little sign of budging from their demands.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.), in a Senate floor speech, urged Democrats to pass a “clean” version of a short-term spending bill, while Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) in a follow-up speech insisted any deal to reopen the government should be tied a one-year extension of public health care subsidies set to expire at the end of the year.

“A one-year extension is something many Republicans themselves have said they want,” Schumer said.

But Thune continued to assert that any negotiations on the health care tax credits would not take place until the government reopened.

“I urge my colleagues to support a clean continuing resolution so we can start a real discussion to address their health care mess, get back to the regular appropriations process and, above all, finally provide relief to the American people,” Thune said.

Thune, speaking to reporters after his floor speech, said he planned to keep senators in Washington until the impasse was broken, even though the chamber was scheduled to be in recess next week.

Senate Republicans continued to face pressure from President Donald Trump to eliminate the chamber’s 60-vote filibuster rule. Without the rule, major pieces of legislation, including a short-term spending bill, could pass strictly along partisan lines.

Trump, spending the weekend at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, posted four online missives calling for an end to the filibuster, and made it clear to Senate Republicans he opposed any deal to extend Affordable Care Act subsidies, describing the Obama-era health care program as “the worst Healthcare anywhere in the World.”

More than 45 million Americans are enrolled in health coverage purchased through Affordable Care Act public exchanges or via the act’s expansion of Medicaid, according to U.S. Health and Human Services data.

Senate Republicans, in a series of floor speeches Saturday, repeatedly cited Trump’s social media posts railing against the Affordable Care Act as a reason not to extend the health care subsidies.

"We're going to replace this broken system with something that is actually better for the consumer to meet the goal of lowering health care costs,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said.

Trump has long called for the repeal of the health program since his first term, but has never put forward a substitute plan.

By Laura Figueroa Hernandez

laura.figueroa@newsday.com@Laura_Figueroa

Laura Figueroa Hernandez is the White House correspondent and previously covered New York City politics and government. She joined Newsday in 2012 after covering state and local politics for The Miami Herald.