GOP sets the stage for extended shutdown

Republicans and the Trump administration are bracing for a lengthy government shutdown, taking steps to alleviate any political pain that might boomerang on them while seeking to make life difficult for Democrats.

The White House is taking steps to redistribute funds to ensure the military gets paychecks during the shutdown.

Doing so in this way takes care of a constituency important to the GOP and Trump, but it deprives Democrats of a vote to fund the military.

The White House also all but dared Democrats to push back on Trump’s maneuverings, a position Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) articulated Tuesday.

“If the Democrats want to go to court and challenge troops being paid, bring it. OK,” he said during a press conference at the Capitol.

Federal law enforcement may be next, as the Office of Management and Budget on Tuesday indicated it is searching for ways to pay officers at the federal level. 

In addition, the White House has laid out plans to keep funding the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said it will use hundreds of millions of dollars from Section 32 tariff revenue to cover the nutrition program, which lawmakers consider vital because it covers 6 million participants per month.

The moves almost ensure the shutdown impasse will blow past the 16-day shutdown in 2013.

It increasingly looks like the fight could drag into November and challenge the longest shutdown on record — a 35-day lapse in funding that lasted from late 2018 to 2019 over President Trump’s insistence for border wall funding. 

“That’s what I’m thinking,” Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.)  said about the shutdown going on for the long haul. “I hope I’m wrong.”

Capito called the dragging shutdown “disappointing” and reiterated the GOP’s call for Democrats to reopen the government and negotiate.

“It’s so easy,” she said.

Democrats insist they aren’t moving unless the GOP agrees to extend enhanced health care insurance subsidies that are set to expire at year’s end. Republicans have refused to engage in talks on any potential fix until the minority party allows the government to reopen.

“I remember when Democrats used to care about the effects of a government shutdown,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) said in floor remarks Tuesday. “I used to think they were sincere in those opinions, but it’s become abundantly clear that their previous statements were not based on principle, but on political advantage.” 

“But I guess … Democrats are more worried about getting the approval of their far-left base than getting the approval of everyday Americans,” he added. 

Johnson warned Monday that the shutdown was going long.

“We’re barreling toward one of the longest shutdowns in American history, unless Democrats drop their partisan demands and passed a clean, no-strings-attached budget to reopen the government and pay our federal workers,” he said.

The possibility of the fight extending into November opens up a new can of worms, though. 

Despite the Dec. 31 expiration of the tax credits, Democrats have long argued the end of October is the key marker because open enrollment starts on Nov. 1, meaning any fix needs to happen by then. 

Notably, Democrats suggested Oct. 31 as the funding deadline as part of their partisan continuing resolution package, which also included a permanent extension of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies, overturning the GOP’s moves to claw back funding, and reversing the Medicaid cuts that were part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. 

“Republican leaders can say all they want [that] there’s nothing to negotiate, but if Republicans don’t change course, then very soon, 20 million Americans are going to face financial catastrophe when their health care premiums go through the roof,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Tuesday. “That is reality Republicans can’t make disappear by just digging in.” 

“The ACA premium crisis is not a fix-it-later issue, but rather a fix-it-now issue,” he continued. “Republicans may think they can dig in until the next ice age, but a fork in the road is coming their way whether they like it or not.” 

Nevertheless, with immediate pressure points out of the way, there does not seem to be much urgency on Capitol Hill toward finding a resolution. 

The House remains on recess until next week, with the chamber having not held any votes for nearly a month as Johnson attempts to keep the focus on the Democratic blockade in the upper chamber.

As for the Senate, Thune told reporters he expects them to depart town for the weekend on Thursday, meaning they will likely be in Washington for roughly 48 hours for the course of the week.