The Senate on Wednesday held its 12th vote on a Republican bill that would end the shutdown by providing short-term funding for the federal government, but first it had to wait for Sen. Jeff Merkley to finish his nearly day-long speech protesting President Trump’s policies. The Oregon Democrat began speaking at about 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday and held the floor until around 5 p.m. Wednesday — more than 22 hours.
"President Trump is shredding our Constitution,” Merkley said as he kicked off his speech, while later warning that “tyranny has already arrived” in the U.S. “Suddenly, you have the three elements that create tyranny in place of freedom, or authoritarianism in place of a republic,” he said. “And those are a rubber-stamp Congress, a deferential court, and an aggressive authoritarian personality with a good plan.”
Many of his Democratic colleagues applauded the effort, including Sen. Chris Van Hollen, who said lawmakers must avoid “business as usual” as the nation deals with “Trump’s lawless regime.”
Republicans panned Merkley’s speech as a stunt that forced congressional staff to work overnight. Abigail Jackson, a White House spokeswoman, told NBC News that the speech was “useless” and did nothing to help Americans who are being harmed by the shutdown. “Democrats will do anything except vote to open the government,” she said.
After Merkley finished his speech, the Senate voted and, as expected, the bill failed once again by a margin of 53 to 47.
Gangs not getting it done: In previous shutdowns, bipartisan “gangs” of lawmakers have sometimes played a role in finding a way to end the crisis, but as Politico’s Jordain Carney reports, that’s not happening this time around.
“You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink,” said Republican Sen. Mike Rounds, who was involved in bipartisan talks a few weeks ago that have petered out. “I don’t see that there’s a path forward at this point.”
The retirement of key dealmakers like Joe Manchin and Rob Portman has made it harder to hold talks and make deals, as has the hardening of ideological lines among lawmakers and the unusual political style of the current president.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski, a moderate Republican who has been involved in bipartisan talks in the past, said most lawmakers see nothing to gain in reaching across the aisle right now. “Both sides think there is political advantage in sticking with the positions that they have,” she said.
Eyeing the filibuster: As the shutdown drags on with no end in sight, Senate Republicans are reportedly discussing changing the rules to push through a funding bill with just 50 votes, rather than the 60 required to end a filibuster.
“Nobody talked about filibuster two weeks ago,” Sen. Tommy Tuberville said, per The Hill. “Now that we see that the Democrats are just not going to agree to anything, then that’s probably a viable option.”
Senate Majority Leader John Thune has said he opposes altering the rules, and the issue reportedly did not come up when GOP senators met with Trump this week, but that could change if the shutdown reaches into November. “I think the pressure from the White House will become pretty enormous,” an unnamed Republican senator told The Hill. “We’re reaching a point here where the SNAP benefits start going down, the military — pretty soon [the president] isn’t going to have enough money to pay them.”
A longer funding punt: The funding bill passed by Republicans in the House and repeatedly rejected by Democrats in the Senate would fund the government until November 21, but as that date draws closer, GOP leaders are considering a new bill that would extend the duration. Republicans say they want to avoid a funding crunch ahead of the holidays, which usually increases pressure to pass a massive omnibus bill, so the most likely end date is mid-January. Some hardliners have said they want more time, with a bill running into April.
Another possibility is a full-year continuing resolution, or CR, that would maintain funding at 2025 levels for the rest of the 2026 fiscal year. That could be a hard sell for many Republicans, though, including Speaker Mike Johnson, since it would again lock in spending levels signed into law by former President Joe Biden.
Still, the need to find a funding plan that lawmakers can agree on, however reluctantly, may mean another continuing resolution could be in the cards. “If the Democrats keep this up, they will make it not only a possibility, they will make it an inevitability,” said Republican Sen. John Hoeven. “We’ll have no choice but to end up with a CR.”