Deysi Camacho shops at the Feeding South Florida pantry on October 27, 2025 in Pembroke Park, Florida. Feeding South Florida was preparing for a possible raise in demand as SNAP benefits were delayed and reduced due to the government shutdown. (Photo: Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats left their Thursday caucus luncheon tight-lipped as an agreement to end the government shutdown, currently the longest in U.S. history at 37 days, remained elusive.
Republicans have reached a deal that includes reinstating federal workers fired by President Donald Trump, but no vote on the spending bill is scheduled for Thursday afternoon. There was speculation that senators would be able to work throughout the weekend.
The chairwoman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, GOP Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, said negotiations are still ongoing. But she said the deal supports the rehiring of thousands of federal workers the Trump administration laid off under a reduction in force (RIF) measure during the government shutdown that began Oct. 1.
“People who were RIFed during the shutdown need to be reminded,” she said. “We are still negotiating that language.”
Emboldened by this week’s Election Day victories, where Democrats swept major local and state races, Senate Democrats are trying to operate that momentum as leverage to get Republicans to agree health care contract end the government shutdown.
As Democrats call for an extension of health care tax credits, Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters Thursday that the best he can offer is a vote to extend the subsidies, which expire this year.
The upcoming lapse in coverage has caused millions of people who purchase health insurance through the Affordable Care Act Marketplace to receive notices that their premium costs will raise dramatically.
“I can’t speak for the House and obviously I can’t guarantee the outcome here and they know that,” said Thune, a Republican from South Dakota. “I think the clear path forward on the ACA is to get a vote, open the government, go to the White House, sit down with the president and talk about it.”
Democrats representing states with gigantic federal employee populations, such as Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia, are also trying to strike a deal on RIF. Federal judge blocked these power cuts last month.
Kaine told reporters Wednesday that those negotiations are ongoing with the White House.
“This is an issue that is being discussed with the president and the White House,” Kaine said.
The progressive wing of the Democratic Party has stressed that unless House Speaker Mike Johnson and President Donald Trump commit to extending health care tax credits, Democrats should not agree to pass a stopgap spending bill to reopen the government.
At next week’s session?
Senators are still scheduled to leave the Capitol overdue Thursday and leave next week for the Veterans Day break.
But several Senate Republicans said overdue Thursday afternoon that lawmakers may remain in Washington until Friday or later.
“I think they’re trying to get ready for a vote tomorrow, possibly over the weekend. I’m in favor of that all weekend,” Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., said in an interview after the GOP luncheon meeting.
Sen. John Kennedy, R-LA, likened the situation to a “goat rodeo,” a hyperbolic term for a disaster.
“There will probably be a vote tomorrow and then we’ll move on and then we’ll know where we stand and we’ll know whether the Democrats are serious or not,” Kennedy said, adding that he wasn’t sure what exactly they were voting on.
Democrats are mute on any deal
After Thursday’s caucus lunch, Democrats appeared no closer to an internal agreement on how to move forward on resolving the government shutdown as they left the assembly.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Democrats had a “very good and productive meeting.”
One of the top Democratic negotiators to find a deal, New Hampshire Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, declined to comment.
As he left the chamber, Pennsylvania Democratic Senator John Fetterman raised his hands in the air.
“I don’t know how productive it was,” said Fetterman, who voted with Republicans to pass legislation aimed at reopening the government.
Some Democrats said they were united, such as New Jersey Sen. Andy Kim, Gary Peters of Michigan and Chris Murphy of Connecticut, the chief appropriator.
Peters did not specify what issue Democrats were united on.
“I don’t want to get into it, but it was an encouraging club (meeting) because when we came out there was great unity,” he said.
Changed break?
Additionally, a fresh continuing resolution, or CR, is needed because the momentary funding would provide the government with funding until November 21, just two weeks away.
The House of Representatives, where Johnson has been in recess since September, will also have to be convened to adopt the fresh version of CR.
As the government shutdown continues, Transport Secretary Sean Duffy warned this week that if funding was not restored, in some airspaces the number of flights will have to be reduced by 10%. due to a shortage of air traffic controllers who have been working without pay for weeks.
The government shutdown has placed millions of federal workers on furlough or forced to work without pay, and has created uncertainty for vulnerable people who rely on food aid AND heating servicesand disruptions to key child development and nutrition programs.
In an attempt to force Democrats to vote to reopen the government, the Trump administration did so he tried to hold back The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) provides benefits to 42 million people pending trial ordered the U.S. Department of Agriculture to make these benefits available.
Frustrated by the government shutdown, Trump also tried to pressure Republicans to end the Senate filibuster, which requires a 60-vote threshold, but Thune resisted those calls.
Progressives: “Don’t let yourself be broken”
Johnson, a Republican from Louisiana, said during a news conference Thursday that he is “not promising anything to anyone” when it comes to a House vote on extending health care tax credits.
Johnson criticized Senate Democrats for wanting a guarantee that the House would also vote on the ACA tax extension.
“It’s ridiculous,” he said.
House progressives said they had one message for Senate Democrats: “Don’t give up,” as Republican Pramila Jayapal put it during a Thursday morning news conference outside the U.S. House of Representatives.
“Any deal must secure an extension of the ACA tax breaks and deliver health care to the American people with the approval of the House, the Senate and the White House, period. We have momentum,” the Washington state Democrat said.
Rep. Chrissy Houlahan, a diplomat who publicly confronted Johnson during Wednesday’s news conference, said: “We need a deal that actually solves the health care crisis, not a deal that promises to consider solving it in the future in two weeks with ideas for a plan.”
“Unfortunately, at this point, even I say our Republican colleagues cannot be trusted to keep their promises and commitments,” Houlahan said.
April Verette, president of the SEIU union, which represents about 2 million members, spoke with Jayapal and Houlahan and praised Democrats as “brave.”
“We are determined to say, ‘Stay in this fight,’ because integrity and morality are on our side,” Verette said.
