After four weeks when the real-world impacts of the budget impasse have been relatively limited, a series of deadlines governing a range of programs will converge at the turn of the month to send the effects of the shutdown well beyond the Beltway.
The D-Day moment, which hits this weekend, is poised to wallop groups as varied as military troops, patients on ObamaCare, kids in Head Start, and low-income families on food stamps.
The combination will affect tens of millions of people, sending shockwaves into every congressional district and heightening the pressure on Congress to come together and secure the elusive deal to end the deadlock.
Vice President Vance urged Senate Republicans at a lunch meeting Tuesday to keep the pressure on Senate Democrats by not allowing votes on legislation to pay SNAP benefits or air traffic controllers during the shutdown, according to Republican senators who attended the meeting.
Vance urged GOP senators to stick with Thune’s strategy of holding repeated votes on a House-passed continuing resolution to fund the government through Nov. 21.
His argument, according to GOP sources familiar with the discussion, is that passing “rifle-shot” measures to reopen the parts of the government would take the pressure off Democrats and possibly extend the shutdown.
Passing such bills in the Senate would also put pressure on the Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) to reconvene the House to take up the legislation, further undermining the broader strategy of isolating Senate Democrats during the shutdown.
Make Americans starve so that we can own the libs. Shortchange the air traffic controllers deliberately so that we can pretend it’s Democrats’ fault. Don’t let any compromise measure pass, because then Johnson will have to let the new Congressperson in and release the Epstein files.
