FROM THE HILL: Democratic support for a potential deal to reopen the government has crumbled because of deep mistrust among Senate Democrats over whether President Trump will act in good faith to extend health insurance subsidies or to stop firing federal workers.
Senate Democrats rejected an emerging proposal Thursday to reopen the government that would have linked a stopgap funding bill known as a continuing resolution to three full-year appropriations bills funding military construction, veterans’ affairs, the Department of Agriculture and the legislative branch.
While Democratic senators on Thursday rejected the proposal hashed out by a group of centrists led by Sens. Gary Peters (D-Mich.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) and Angus King (I-Maine), they’re still looking for a way to end the shutdown soon.
“You got a bunch of keys, and you’re trying to find the right key to fit a lock. We just have to have another key,” said an unnamed Democratic senator who attended the meeting.
Republicans need at least eight Democratic votes to reopen the government, and they are five Democratic votes short. Nervous Democrats worry that Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) can’t guarantee that Trump will stop freezing federal funds appropriated by Congress, that he will abandon the use of pocket rescissions, or that he would accept a proposal to extend health insurance subsidies beyond December.
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