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Some lawmakers are getting anxious to fund key programs and pay federal workers as the shutdown drags on, but even so, most Senate Republicans argue that the best way to ensure paydays and benefits is to reopen the government.
While Senate Republicans and Democrats are entrenched in a stalemate that has seen the shutdown drag into its 29th day, a handful of lawmakers have pushed bills that would pay the military, working federal workers, air traffic controllers, and fund federal food benefits.
One of those bills, from Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., got a chance on the floor but was blocked by Senate Democrats last week.
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Senate Republicans want to pass “rifle shot” funding bills but are standing firm in their position that reopening the government is the best solution. (Samuel Corum/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Since then others, including Sens. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., and Ted Cruz, R-Texas, have pushed piecemeal funding bills, dubbed “rifle shots” by Republicans, as a way to fund portions of the federal workforce.
Both Hawley and Cruz, whose bill would pay air traffic controllers, were hopeful that their legislation would get a shot on the floor.
“Listen, my goal is just to make sure that 42 million Americans don’t go without food starting this weekend,” Hawley told Digital. “So, the only way I can see to do that is to vote on the floor. It will get blocked any other way.”
But Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., pumped the brakes on the likelihood of those bills seeing floor time, doubling down throughout the week against funding the government one chunk at a time.
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Senate Democrats, led by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., have continued to dig in against Senate Republicans in their bid to reopen the government. (Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“You start going down that road with one-off bills or take care of this group or that group, and it’s just like, it begs the larger question, how long … is this going to drag on? I think that the quickest way to end it is to just open everything up and then everybody gets paid,” Thune said.
While there is a demand among Republicans to see federal workers get paid and to ensure the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), commonly known as food stamps, does not run out of funding on Saturday, most of the conference is unwilling to break ranks with Thune’s position.
“I think we should close the door on it. Why are we picking winners and losers inside the government? The fact is, we’re shut down. We need to open it back up,” Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla, told Digital. “Say you decided to fund the SNAP program. What about the employees that got to produce the paperwork and get it done? Are you not going to pay them?”
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Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo. (Valerie Plesch/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“We had an opportunity to pay all essential employees. [Democrats] chose not to,” he continued.
“I mean, it’s ridiculous to think that we’re going to pick pieces of it when we should just open it all up. And there’s no reason why we shouldn’t.”
Senate Democrats, led by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., have blocked the GOP’s plan to reopen the government 13 times since the shutdown began.
And they’ve shown little signs of cracking under pressure as pain points like food stamps funding and federal worker paydays mount.
But, Schumer and Senate Democrats are largely in favor of supporting a rifle-shot food stamps bill, even going so far as to draft their own — the top Senate Democrat said that his caucus would support either their bills from Sen. Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., or Hawley’s measure.
“If John Thune would put it on the floor, it would pass overwhelmingly,” Schumer said. “But he’s afraid of Trump. He’s going along in this heartless, cruel thing.”
Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., is also a co-sponsor of both bills, and said that Thune “should call these bills up.”
“He should call both of them up immediately, and as Senator Schumer said, they would pass,” she said. “So that’s why this is such a false crisis.”
As of Thursday, Hawley’s bill had 29 co-sponsors, including Schumer and 14 other Senate Democrats.
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But given Democrats’ recent history of blocking bill after bill as the shutdown drags on, not every Republican trusted Schumer’s vow. Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., told Digital that “with all due respect to Chuck, I don’t believe him.”
“They’re not going to get on the floor,” he said. “They’re not going to get on the floor for two reasons. Number one, we’ve seen this vampire move. The Democrats get right up to it, and then they pull back. They’re not serious. And number two, we’re not going to — it’s not going to get on the floor because Thune says he’s tired of playing the games.”
