FROM THE HILL: Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) is throwing a curveball into the shutdown fight as he plans to bring a full-year spending bill for the Pentagon to the floor on Thursday, effectively daring Democrats to oppose it as part of their push to keep health care at the forefront of the impasse.
Democrats have been almost completely united in their opposition to the GOP’s “clean” bill to fund the government through Nov. 21. The Senate voted against the House-passed continuing resolution for the ninth time on Wednesday, with another vote on the stopgap expected on Thursday.
But Thursday’s vote on the Defense bill represents more of a gamble, and leaders on Wednesday largely said they hadn’t yet decided what to do.
The full-year bill, a result of a bipartisan appropriations process, was easily passed out of committee earlier this year. It would fund military paychecks that could be at risk if the shutdown persists until the end of the month.
Democrats, intent on maintaining their opposition to the Trump administration, are holding out because they say Republicans might attach something to the Defense bill once it clears the procedural hurdle on Thursday.
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