Republican negotiators remain divided over how long a stopgap spending bill should last as the government shutdown stretched into its 36th day, The Hill reported.
The House-passed continuing resolution would fund the government only through Nov. 21, and there’s still no end in sight.
“That discussion is ongoing. There’s a big argument to be made for January, and there’s a big argument to be made for Dec. 19,” Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., told the news outlet.
Mullin is an appropriator and ally of Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D.
Thune said on Monday the date is “going to have to change” as the Senate has tried and failed on 14 occasions to advance a short-term funding bill to reopen the government.
The Nov. 21 date is “lost,” Thune told reporters.
“So, it’s a question now of what the next date is.”
At the Senate Republicans’ weekly policy luncheon Tuesday, Sens. John Hoeven of North Dakota and Jerry Moran of Kansas said they supported a date in late December.
Republican Sens. Rick Scott of Florida and Eric Schmitt of Missouri suggested January at the same meeting.
“We had a big discussion about it over lunch. … I don’t know how we’re going to end up,” Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., told The Hill.
“There are good arguments on both sides.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said Tuesday he was not a fan of “extending it to December.
“Let’s be frank: A lot of people around here have PTSD about Christmas omnibus spending bills.
“We don’t want to do that,” Johnson told reporters at the Capitol. “It gets too close, and we don’t want to have that risk.”
A stopgap measure lasting into January, though, “makes sense,” he said.
“There’s some discussion about it. We’ll see where it lands.”
The shutdown’s 36 days are the longest in U.S. history.
Democratic lawmakers have insisted that any deal address their health care concerns.
Republicans say those negotiations can happen after the government is funded.
At issue are Affordable Care Act tax credits that lower insurance costs for millions of Americans. The subsidies, set to expire at year’s end, were first enacted during the pandemic and extended in 2022.
Democrats also want any funding bill to reverse Medicaid cuts included in President Donald Trump’s summer spending package.
Those cuts have not yet taken effect but are already prompting some states to reduce payments to health care providers.
Newsmax wires contributed to this report.
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