Trump says “we will get our service members every last penny” amid shutdown
President Trump pledged Sunday at an event to mark the Navy’s 250th anniversary in Norfolk, Virginia, to “get our service members every last penny” despite the government shutdown, which he called “Democrat-induced.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Mr. Trump said. “It’s all coming, it’s coming.”
Active-duty service members are set to miss their next paychecks on Oct. 15 unless lawmakers vote to reopen the government, or separately approve a measure to pay the military. The date is seen as a possible leverage point for Republicans as they push to peel off Democratic support for a measure to keep the government funded until Nov. 21.
Mr. Trump said “we have to take care of this little gnat that’s on our shoulder, called the Democrats.”
Senate expected to vote again Monday on measures to fund government
The Senate is set to reconvene Monday afternoon after breaking for the weekend and is set to take votes on competing measures to fund the government after they fell short of the 60 votes needed for a fourth time last week.
The latest round of procedural votes on the dueling bills comes after they failed to pick up any new support during Friday’s votes. Republicans are pushing for a House-passed measure to keep the government funded until Nov. 21, while Democrats have a separate measure to fund the government through October that would also extend health insurance tax credits, which has become Democrats’ key demand in the funding fight.
Republicans have argued that negotiations on the tax credits, which expire at the end of the year, can happen once the government reopens, holding the repeat votes to pressure Democrats to support their measure to reopen the government.
With 53 Republicans in the upper chamber, support from Democrats is needed to advance a measure to fund the government. When the House-passed bill first received a vote in the Senate, just one Democrat crossed the aisle to support it. On the next vote, which came last week, two more senators crossed the aisle to back it. But since then, Republicans have been unable to peel off any additional support from Democrats in two more attempts.
CBS News poll finds few feel shutdown is worth it
Relatively few Americans say the Democrats’ or Republicans’ positions are worth a shutdown, according to a CBS News poll released Sunday.
For the Democrats, only half their rank and file think their party’s positions are worth a shutdown, and even fewer Republicans say that of the GOP’s positions.
Overall views and descriptors of the parties aren’t positive ones. Each has underwater favorability ratings overall, with the Republicans getting slightly better ratings than the Democrats.
Read more here.
Johnson, Schumer accuse each other of not being serious about negotiations
Congressional leaders traded blame for the government shutdown on Sunday as the stalemate over how to reopen the government stretched into another week without progress on negotiations.
Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, said Sunday on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” that “the House did its job” by passing a measure last month that would fund the government until Nov. 21, saying the reason House Republicans will remain in their districts this week is “because we did that.”
“I pray that more Democrats in the Senate will come to their senses and do the right thing, and when they have the next opportunity on Monday to vote to open the government. I surely hope that they will,” Johnson said.
Read more here.
