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John Thune, Senator for South Dakota and the majority leader, has been teasing a deal that he believes will end the historic government shutdown, according to new reports. Thune reportedly said he plans to call another vote on the stop-gap spending bill Friday, the 38th day of impasse, between Republicans and Democrats. Sources with knowledge of his plan say Thune intends to propose extending temporary spending measures to generally fund the government into January as well as three separate financial measures. These would cover programs related to agriculture, military construction and legislative agencies for the majority of next year, the sources told The New York Times. The outlet reports that the proposals have been crafted during low-key bipartisan talks between a group of Democratic moderates and centrist Republicans. The NYT reports that by running the proposals agreed to by some Democrats, Thune will be challenging their colleagues to vote against them. Though some have expressed optimism about such a potential deal, Thune’s proposal does not touch upon the central demand the Democrats have pushed for since the beginning of the strike – an extension of federal health credits. The Senate majority leader has said previously that he would allow a vote on such an extension, but only after the government is reopened, and some on the left are skeptical of such a promise. Earlier Thursday, Democratic House of Representatives leader Hakeem Jeffries said Thune was “divorced from reality” by not addressing the healthcare issue in previous iterations of a deal. “It's a clown show over in the Senate. 14, 15 times you bring the same partisan Republican spending bill to the Senate floor expecting a different result? That's the classic definition of legislative insanity,” he said. Jeffries added that such action demonstrated his Republican colleagues had “no ability to actually negotiate in good faith." But the GOP top brass continue to lay the blame for the ongoing shutdown squarely at the feet of the Democrats, with both President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance echoing each other at a dinner for Central Asian leaders Thursday evening. “The shutdown is caused by the Democrats, and we're not going to spend $1 trillion or $1.5 trillion on healthcare for people that came into our country illegally,” the president said. “They should've – as they've always done in the past – [funding] should've just been extended, it could have been very easy.” It remains to be seen whether Thune’s proposals, if voted on Friday, will pass. Senate GOP leaders said lawmakers would be staying in Washington D.C. through the weekend in an attempt to come to a resolution. Ultimately, finalizing a deal to end the shutdown would also take days to carry out proper procedure and sift through any potential objections of senators.
