Shutdown Day 8: Sixth Senate vote fails amid tensions

WASHINGTON — The eighth day of the federal shutdown saw tensions flare Wednesday between lawmakers in U.S. Capitol hallways, no deal on how to keep military service members paid and a sixth failed Senate vote for new funding that could have reopened agencies.

The Senate’s inability once again to advance a House-passed funding bill and a competing Democratic bill reflected no visible progress in the standoff. The Republican measure to replenish agency coffers until Nov. 21 fell short 47-52, needing eight non-GOP votes — still stuck at just three political aisle-jumpers.

Meanwhile, the last time the House was in session was Sept. 19. Speaker Mike Johnson said Wednesday he has no plans to call members back to Washington — even to take up a standalone measure that would keep military paychecks flowing.

Service members could miss their Oct. 15 paycheck if Congress doesn't act on a bill — or unless the White House somehow rejiggers funding from some other source. But Johnson said he is not going to heed the calls in a letter signed by dozens of Democrats — included Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-Glen Cove) and Rep. Laura Gillen (D-Rockville Centre) — urging him to summon the House back into session to act on that issue.

Johnson said at a news conference that troops would have been fully funded in the House-passed bill that keeps failing now without Democratic help in the Senate — and thus, in the House, "We already had that vote."

But Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) underscored that Republicans must negotiate with Democrats over extending or continuing expiring Obamacare health care tax credits that millions of Americans rely on before his party will support a bill to reopen government.

There was no evidence negotiations between centrists from both parties were making progress on that front.

However, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) did show a softening in his position that a one-year extension of those subsidies — as opposed to making them permanent — was something he would not consider as a compromise.

He said his current position remains that a permanent extension is needed for enrollees, but that, "At the end of the day, the [House Democratic] Caucus in good faith will evaluate anything presented by the Senate."

That was a shift from Tuesday, when Jeffries called a one-year extension "laughable," even though that's what is called for in a bipartisan bill on which Suozzi is the lead Democratic sponsor and which other House Democrats support.

Even with the House not officially in session, there were run-ins Wednesday between some Republican and Democratic lawmakers who were at the Capitol. In one that was caught widely on video, Rep. Mike Lawler (R-Pearl River) challenged Jeffries in a hallway to back the Suozzi-sponsored bill, which he supports.

But not even Lawler’s own Republican Party leaders have indicated backing a one-year extension as a compromise to end the shutdown. "We've got a one-year extension, why don't you sign on right now?" Lawler asked. At one point, Jeffries responded, "Did you get permission from your boss? Did your boss Donald Trump give you permission?"

To all of this, Suozzi — who like all but one House Democrat did not vote for the Republican funding bill in September — said in a statement: "Everyone needs to take a deep breath and remember why we came to Congress."

He urged that the House return to Washington and hammer out a deal to both reopen the government and make sure health care costs "don’t skyrocket on Jan. 1."