Senate races to avoid government shutdown with time ticking and lingering issues
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., develops contingency plans for government funding as lawmakers work to pass five-bill spending package and remaining funding bills before Jan. 30.
Shutdown looms in 2026 as healthcare premiums set to spike
Fox News chief congressional correspondent Chad Pergram and Rep. Kevin Kiley, R-Calif., join 'Fox News Live' to discuss the expiration of Obamacare subsidies, rising healthcare premiums going into 2026 and concerns of another government shutdown.
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The Senate will return to a fast-approaching government funding deadline, but this time both sides appear ready to avoid another shutdown.
When lawmakers in the upper chamber return Monday, they will have three working weeks to fund the government. That process fizzled out before they left town earlier in December, but lawmakers are hopeful that both parties can come together to ward off a repeat of September’s funding deadline.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., told reporters before leaving the Capitol that Democrats’ goal was to have the remaining slate of appropriations bills completed by the Jan. 30 deadline. It takes 12 spending bills to fund the government, and so far, neither chamber has come close to hitting that mark.
DEMOCRATS' LAST-MINUTE MOVE TO BLOCK GOP FUNDING PLAN SENDS LAWMAKERS HOME EARLY
Senate Democrats' three-year extension of expiring enhanced Obamacare subsidies was destined to fail as the Senate prepared to vote on dueling proposals. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
"We want to get through the process and get the appropriations bills done," Schumer said.
It’s a stark departure from his and Democrats’ earlier position, given that they shut the government down for a record 43 days in a bid to bring expiring Obamacare subsidies to the forefront of discussions.
Congressional Democrats also have been leery of working with their Republican counterparts after President Donald Trump’s roughly $9 billion clawback package, which cut funding to already agreed-to programs and priorities, passed on a partisan vote over the summer.
A similar issue played out just as the Senate was on the cusp of advancing a five-bill spending package before skipping town.
