‘Unhinged and Unreasonable and Unserious’: Republicans Balk at Democrats’ Demands To Keep the Government Open

Republicans in Congress are not giving an inch to Democrats as they threaten to block a government funding proposal ahead of the shutdown deadline in just six days. The minority party says it needs additional funding for health insurance subsidies, among other things, in order to support efforts to keep the government open. The Senate majority leader, John Thune, and Speaker Mike Johnson said Wednesday that they are not acquiescing to Democrats’ demands for extended funding for their own priorities. If Democrats vote to block the clean funding bill — known as a continuing resolution — Republicans say that the opposition party will own the shutdown, no matter how long it lasts. In an interview with CNN’s “Inside Politics” on Wednesday, Mr. Thune called Democrats’ demands “unhinged and unreasonable and unserious.”“What they’re asking for to keep the government open for seven weeks is over a trillion dollars in new spending and all kinds of policy [changes] that never go on continuing resolutions,” Mr. Thune said. Democrats have made several demands of their Republican counterparts in their attempt to open negotiations for the spending bill — making Biden-era health insurance subsidies permanent, repealing the One Big Beautiful Bill Act’s Medicaid cuts, and restricting President Trump’s ability to issue rescissions requests, which are procedural mechanisms that allow him to more easily cut funding. “House Republicans are doing our job and restoring regular order to the appropriations process,” Mr. Johnson wrote on X on Wednesday, echoing Mr. Thune’s comments. “If Democrats fail to pass our clean, nonpartisan, 24-page CR to keep the government open the American People will know where the blame lies.”The House passed its own clean funding extension on Friday, which would keep the government open until the end of the day on November 21. The only additional money that is tacked on to that bill is about $80 million for additional security measures for members of Congress, the executive branch, and the nine Supreme Court justices. That provision was inspired by the recent assassination of Charlie Kirk. Mr. Trump on Wednesday also said that Democrats are going to own this shutdown if it does occur next week. In a lengthy statement issued Tuesday, the president said he would not meet with Senator Charles Schumer or the House minority leader, Congressman Hakeem Jeffries, even though he had scheduled an Oval Office meeting with them just the day before. Speaking to reporters at the Capitol on Tuesday, Mr. Jeffries insisted again that Democrats would not go along with Republicans’ party-line continuing resolution, primarily because it does not address the health insurance subsidies. “Throughout this process, an intentional decision was made by Republican leadership in the House and the Senate not to have a single conversation with Democrats,” Mr. Jeffries told members of the press corps. “They’re not even pretending as if they want to find common ground.”He told reporters that he spoke to Mr. Johnson last week, and has a “positive and communicative” relationship with the speaker. His Democratic colleagues, however, do not yet see a path forward to work with Republicans in good faith. “There’s no trust that exists between House Democrats and House Republicans,” Mr. Jeffries proclaimed.

‘Unhinged and Unreasonable and Unserious’: Republicans Balk at Democrats’ Demands To Keep the Government Open

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