Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) said Monday he’s “optimistic” Congress can reach a deal to reopen the government by week’s end, suggesting a stopgap funding bill lasting into January since the House’s late-November deadline is no longer workable.
Thune said he’s not yet “confident” the shutdown will end but feels encouraged as bipartisan talks progressed over the weekend.
“Based on my gut and how these things operate, I think we’re getting close to an off-ramp,” Thune said at the Capitol. “The objective here is to try and get something that we could send back to the House that would open up the government.”
Negotiators are discussing a possible deal that includes a plan to resume the regular appropriations process and a vote to extend expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies. Thune said any stopgap measure must set a new funding deadline. The Senate’s current proposal extends funding through Nov. 21, but time to decide on longer-term funding is running out.
“The date’s going to have to change. … That date’s lost,” Thune said, noting that there’s not enough time to pass full-year spending measures and that a continuing resolution lasting into January would make the most sense. “The longer runway is better.”
Thune noted that Tuesday’s elections in Virginia, New Jersey, and New York City are a key hurdle to reaching a deal, saying it “seems like that matters.” He also said the Senate may cancel next week’s recess if no agreement is reached.
“I think we have to leave all options on the table,” Thune said, pointing to the bipartisan conversations that lasted through the weekend. “Hopefully that will bring about the desired result, but if we don’t start seeing some progress or some evidence of that by at least the middle of this week, it’s hard to see how we would finish anything by the end of the week.”
