Senate rejects projects of provisional financing to avoid a shutdown of the government
The plan to fund the government until November 21 and thus avoid a shutdown lacked the support of Democrats in the Senate
While the Democrats in the Senate rejected a plan to fund the government until November 21, which had been approved by the Republican Party in the House of Representatives; Republicans killed a Democratic bill tied to the health care provisions.
The seven-week stopgap bill, known as a continuing resolution or CR, fell short of the 60 votes needed to be forwarded to the president. Forty-four senators voted in favor and 48 opposed.
On the Democratic side, John Fetterman was the sole supporter of the bill; while Rand Paul and Lisa Murkowski turned their backs on their party by voting against it.
Regarding the plan presented by the Democrats to extend Obamacare subsidies and also reverse the cuts to Medicaid enacted in President Donald Trump's "great and beautiful law," it also failed to surpass the 60-vote threshold, with only 47 senators supporting it to 45 against.
In this way, Chuck Schumer, Senate Minority Leader, kept his word to unite his caucus to defeat the House Republican bill.
"We have two weeks. They should sit down and talk with us, and maybe we can get a good proposal, but if they don't talk to us, there's no hope of getting a good proposal. And that doesn't make sense.
Donald Trump says not to negotiate with the Democrats, because he doesn't know what the Senate is like, or he doesn't know how to count, because without the Democrats, they're going to end up shutting down the government,” he said.
With Congress unable to reach an agreement, the government shutdown is scheduled to begin at 12:01 a.m. on October 1, the start of the new fiscal year.
Despite the delicate situation, the House of Representatives and the Senate are scheduled to recess next week.
Although the House sessions were scheduled to resume on September 29 and 30,Republican leaders canceled the meeting in order to pressure Senate Democrats to pass the stopgap bill.
“The Republican bill is a clean, nonpartisan, short-term resolution to fund the government and give us time to get through the appropriations process,” said Senate Majority Leader John Thune, a conservative.