Deysi Camacho shops at the Feeding South Florida pantry in Pembroke Park, Florida on October 27, 2025. Feeding South Florida prepared for a possible raise in demand as SNAP benefits were delayed and reduced due to the government shutdown. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON – Senate Democrats remained tight-lipped at their caucus lunch Thursday as an agreement to end the government shutdown, now the longest in U.S. history at 37 days, remained elusive.
Republicans have floated a deal that would reinstate federal workers fired by President Donald Trump, but no votes on a spending bill were scheduled as of slow Thursday afternoon. There was some speculation that the Senators could work through the weekend.
The chair of the Senate Budget Committee, GOP Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, said negotiations are ongoing. But she said as part of an agreement, she supports reinstating thousands of federal workers the Trump administration laid off under its Reductions in Force (RIFs) during the government shutdown that began Oct. 1.
“Those who were under RIF during the shutdown should be recalled,” she said. “We are still negotiating this language.”
Encouraged by this week’s election victories, where The Democrats swept In major local and state elections, Senate Democrats are trying to operate this lively as leverage to get Republicans to agree a health agreement to end the government shutdown.
As Democrats pushed for an extension of health care tax credits, Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters Thursday that the best he could offer was a vote to extend those subsidies, which are set to expire this year.
The impending expiration has resulted in millions of people who purchase health insurance through the Affordable Care Act Marketplace receiving notices of a dramatic raise in premium costs.
“I can’t speak for the House, and of course I can’t guarantee an outcome here, and they know that,” said Thune, a Republican from South Dakota. “I think the clear path forward on the ACA issue is that they get a vote, we open up the government and we go to the White House and sit down with the president and talk about it.”
Democrats representing states with high percentages of federal workers, such as Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia, are also trying to reach agreement on RIFs. A federal judge blocked these troop reductions last month.
Kaine told reporters Wednesday that those negotiations are taking place with the White House.
“It is a point that is being discussed with the president and the White House,” Kaine said.
The progressive wing of the Democratic Party has stressed that Democrats should not agree to pass an emergency budget bill to reopen the government until House Speaker Mike Johnson and President Donald Trump commit to expanding health care tax credits.
At next week’s meeting?
Senators are still scheduled to leave Capitol Hill slow Thursday and are on recess next week for the Veterans Day holiday.
But a few Senate Republicans said slow Thursday afternoon that lawmakers may remain in Washington, D.C., until Friday or later.
“I think they’re trying to work toward a vote tomorrow, maybe by the weekend. I’m all for it by the weekend,” Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., said in an interview after a GOP luncheon.
Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., likened the situation to a “goat rodeo,” an exaggerated term for a disaster.
“We’ll probably vote tomorrow, and then we’ll move on, and then we’ll know where we stand, and we’ll know whether the Democrats are serious or not,” Kennedy said, adding that he didn’t know exactly what they would be voting on.
Democrats remain hushed on any deal
After their caucus lunch on Thursday, Democrats appeared to be no closer to an internal agreement on how to move forward on resolving the government shutdown as they left their caucus.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Democrats had a “very good and productive meeting.”
One of Democrats’ key negotiators in the search for a deal, New Hampshire Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, declined to comment.
Pennsylvania Democratic Sen. John Fetterman threw up his hands as he left the room.
“I don’t know how productive it was,” said Fetterman, who voted with Republicans to pass legislation to reopen the government.
Some Democrats said they agreed, such as New Jersey Sen. Andy Kim, Gary Peters of Michigan and Chris Murphy of Connecticut, a top appropriator.
Peters did not say which issue the Democrats agreed on.
“I don’t want to go into detail, but it was an encouraging caucus (meeting) because there was a lot of unity when we came out,” he said.
Revised emergency solution?
Additionally, a up-to-date continuing resolution (CR) is required as the emergency measure would have funded the government until November 21, just two weeks away.
The House of Representatives, which Johnson has left alone since September, would also have to be reconvened to pass a up-to-date version of a CR.
As the government shutdown continues, Transport Minister Sean Duffy warned this week that if funding is not restored, In some airspaces, flights must be reduced by 10% due to a shortage of air traffic controllers who have been working without pay for weeks.
The government shutdown has resulted in millions of federal workers being furloughed or working without pay and has created uncertainty for vulnerable people who rely on it Food aid And Heating servicesand disruptions to critical child development and nutrition programs.
To force Democrats to vote to reopen the government, the Trump administration did so tried to hold back The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) provides benefits to 42 million people pending litigation ordered the U.S. Department of Agriculture to release these benefits.
Frustrated by the government shutdown, Trump has also tried to pressure Republicans to abolish the Senate filibuster, which requires a 60-vote threshold, but Thune has resisted those demands.
Progressives: “Don’t give in”
Johnson, a Republican from Louisiana, said during a news conference Thursday that he is “not promising anyone anything” when it comes to a House vote on expanding health care tax subsidies.
Johnson criticized Senate Democrats for wanting a guarantee that the House would also vote on extending ACA taxes.
“This is ridiculous,” he said.
Progressives in the House said they had a message for Senate Democrats: “Don’t give in,” as Rep. Pramila Jayapal put it during a news conference Thursday morning at the U.S. House of Representatives.
“Any deal must ensure the extension of the ACA tax credits and ensure health care for the American people with the approval of the House, the Senate and the White House, period. We have the momentum,” the Washington state Democrat said.
Rep. Chrissy Houlahan, D-Pa., who publicly called out Johnson during a news conference Wednesday, said: “We need a deal that actually addresses the health crisis, not one that promises to think about addressing it with concepts for a plan later in two weeks.”
“Unfortunately, I say at this time that it is impossible to trust our Republican colleagues to follow through on their promises and commitments,” Houlahan said.
April Verette, president of the SEIU union, which represents about 2 million members, spoke alongside Jayapal and Houlahan and praised Democrats as “courageous.”
“We are determined to say, ‘Stay loyal to this fight,’ because righteousness and morality are on our side,” Verette said.
