One month into Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s decision to spark a government shutdown, Democrats are reading from separate playbooks about how to end the standoff.
Though more Democrats appear ready to end the weeks-long stalemate as soon as next week, few lawmakers appear to share the same victory scenario if the caucus relents in their hardball tactics. The Daily Caller News Foundation asked more than a dozen Senate Democrats to specify their demands to reopen the government but none gave the same answer.
Senate Republicans have sharply criticized their Democrat colleagues for shutting down the government without developing a clear exit strategy. The shutdown’s pain is expected to affect more Americans’ daily lives over the coming days as key food aid programs expire and federal workers continue to go without pay.
“They’ve dug themselves in a hole and now they’re trying to figure out how to get out of it,” Republican Indiana Sen. Jim Banks told the DCNF. “I expect that after election day is over next week, then they can get serious about untangling their pretzel and reopening the government.”
Though Democrats’ most common ask during the shutdown has been calling on Republicans to extend enhanced Obamacare subsidies in exchange for reopening the government, the party’s Senate caucus is divided about how a vote would play out in practice.
“Everyone’s got their own different opinion of that,” Democratic Colorado Sen. John Hickenlooper told the DCNF when asked what Democrats’ demands were to reopen the government.
“I’m looking at compromises, would be one-year or two-year [extension],” Hickenlooper continued. “Usually you don’t get everything you want in these things.”
Senate Democrats originally demanded that Republicans agree to a permanent extension of the expiring subsidies, but have largely retreated from that position given firm GOP opposition.
Democratic Nevada Sen. Jacky Rosen told the DCNF that a vote on extending the expiring tax credits and the formation of an Affordable Care Act working group would be enough to end the shutdown.
Rosen, a more centrist member of the Democratic caucus, qualified that a vote on extending the subsidies would not necessarily have to pass.
“They can say people don’t want to extend or not, they let them fall of the cliff. People can vote where they need to be,” Rosen told the DCNF. “Give us a vote on that.”
Democratic Rhode Island Sen. Jack Reed said that a vote on extending the Obamacare subsidies cannot be “arranged to fail.”
Senate Majority Leader John Thune has consistently offered to hold a vote on extending the expiring tax credits, but only after Democrats reopen the government.
Schumer and the majority of his caucus have rejected a House-passed bipartisan funding measure to end the shutdown on 13 separate occasions. With the Senate departing Washington on Thursday afternoon, the government shutdown is expected to drag on to next week, making the current funding lapse the longest in history.
Other Democratic lawmakers’ demands to end the shutdown are more far-reaching in scope.
Democratic Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy, a rumored 2028 presidential contender, has repeatedly stated that he will not support any funding bill that does not enact strict guardrails on Trump as his “attacks on democracy ramp up.” He was the lone Senate Democrat who sits on the Appropriations Committee to oppose all appropriations bills that have passed out of the panel this year.
“My bottom line is that I won’t vote for a budget that destroys our health care system intentionally, and I won’t vote for a budget that funds Trump’s destruction of democracy,” Murphy told the DCNF.
California Sen. Adam Schiff similarly told the DCNF that he needs “some guaranteeing” that funds Congress appropriates won’t be subject to impoundment or rescissions by the president.
Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren said she wants Republicans to concede to undo their Medicaid reforms enacted in President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act in exchange for her vote. Republicans have argued their policy changes are aimed at eliminating waste and abuse while strengthening benefits for the most vulnerable beneficiaries.
“We want the Republicans to roll back the cuts to health care that will cost millions of Americans their coverage,” Warren told the DCNF. “It’s not very fancy.”
Other Democrats’ demands have been more vague with some lawmakers stating that they will not negotiate in the press.
“I just need to have a conversation on health care and have some sort of vote on the health care crisis that we are in,” Michigan Sen. Elissa Slotkin told the DCNF. “I expect a real conversation between adults that results in some sort of compromise. And compromise is not a dirty word in my work.”
Republican leaders have been adamant throughout the shutdown that they will not negotiate on unrelated policy matters until Democrats vote to reopen the government.
“Republicans are ready to reopen the government today,” Thune said on the Senate floor on Thursday. “And we’re not demanding a single thing in exchange. It’s the Democrats who are refusing.”
Andi Shae Napier and Caden Olson contributed to this report.
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