WASHINGTON (AP) — Elections this week that energized Democrats and angered President Donald Trump have cast a chill over efforts to end the record-breaking government shutdown, raising fresh doubts about the possibility of a breakthrough despite the punishing toll of federal closures on the country.
Trump has increased pressure on Senate Republicans to end the shutdown — now at 37 days, the longest in U.S. history — calling it a “big factor, negative” in the poor GOP showings across the country. Democrats saw Trump’s comments as a reason to hold firm, believing his involvement in talks could lead to a deal on extending health care subsidies, a key sticking point to win their support.
Trump is refusing to meet with Democrats, insisting they must open the government first. But complicating the GOP’s strategy, Trump is increasingly fixated instead on pushing Republicans to scrap the Senate filibuster to speed reopening — a step that many GOP senators reject out of hand. He kept up the pressure in a video Wednesday evening, saying the Senate’s 60-vote threshold to pass legislation should be “terminated.”
“This is much bigger than the shutdown,” Trump said. “This is the survival of our country.”
Senate Democrats face pressures of their own, both from unions eager for the shutdown to end and from allied groups who want them to hold firm. Many see the Democrats’ decisive gubernatorial wins in Virginia and New Jersey as validation of their strategy to hold the government closed until expiring health care subsidies are addressed.