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Democrats' Big Election Night Scrambles Efforts To Reopen Government

WASHINGTON ― Democrats’ big election wins this week are complicating bipartisan talks to reopen the federal government, with some Democratic lawmakers urging their party to hold the line and keep fighting, and some Republican senators embracing President Donald Trump’s call to eliminate the filibuster and pass a funding bill without Democratic votes.

Inside the Democratic caucus, opinions are mixed on how their party should proceed. Some senators in the moderate wing are weary of what has become the longest-ever government shutdown, and its impact on federal workers and millions of Americans who are going without food assistance. Other Democrats ― particularly those in the progressive wing ― are urging their caucus to stand strong and keep pushing for an extension of enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies that are due to expire this year.

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“There’s a wide range of views,” one Democratic senator who requested anonymity to speak freely told HuffPost. “From, we should reopen this right now, to, you’ve got to be kidding me? Like after the election last night, clearly we should be pushing for more.”

The senators who wanted to end the shutdown had seemingly had the upper hand in recent days, but the massive Democratic wins on Tuesday night have scrambled the dynamics. Progressives argue the victories show Democratic efforts to directly battle Trump and highlight skyrocketing health care costs are working. And Trump telling GOP senators the shutdown is hurting the party could crack the door open for fuller negotiations.

“The most important thing that’s happened in the last 24 hours is that Donald Trump said to the entire Republican caucus the shutdown is hurting us,” the senator added. “There’s a moment here where Trump could, if he chose, to engage in a way that would give us a clear path.”

On Wednesday, a group of 12 members of the Democratic caucus who are leading negotiations with Republicans to reopen the government met behind closed doors in the bowels of the U.S. Capitol to discuss their next steps. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), a moderate who has a leading role in these talks, said they’ve been “productive,” but declined to weigh in on the impact of Tuesday’s elections and whether they could prolong the shutdown.

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“There are some changes in circumstance with regard to the president weighing in, and we’re going to see how those shake out,” Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), who also attended the meeting, told HuffPost.

Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.), a vulnerable Democrat up for reelection next year, said after the meeting that negotiations are at “a sensitive moment.” He said last night’s election results, including surprising Democratic gains in his state of Georgia, “demonstrate the strength of national feeling against what Trump is doing to the country.”

Other senators who attended the meeting included Sens. Gary Peters (D-Mich.), Angus King (I-Maine), Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), Peter Welch (D-Vt.), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), Chris Coons (D-Del.), Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), and Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.). Republicans need at least five more Democrats to join them in breaking a filibuster and voting to reopen the government.

Trump, meanwhile, blamed Republicans’ losses in Tuesday’s election on the government shutdown. But during a breakfast meeting with Senate Republicans at the White House on Wednesday morning, Trump signaled he wasn’t willing to give in to Democratic demands, instead urging GOP lawmakers to kill the filibuster so they can reopen the government themselves, without Democratic votes.

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“It’s time for Republicans to do what they have to do and that’s terminate the filibuster,” Trump said in public remarks before the meeting. “It’s the only way you can do it. And if you don’t terminate the filibuster, you’ll be in bad shape.”

Trump has pushed to eliminate the filibuster, which forces senators to come up with 60 votes to move legislation, since his first term, and Senate Republicans have consistently pushed back. But Trump’s remarks on Wednesday seem to have had an impact on some Republicans. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) said he now agrees with Trump that the filibuster has to go, though he said he’d been “trending that way” for some time.

“If we would do it, we’d be doing it for the benefit of the American public ― to pass good legislation the Democrats will not allow to pass,” Johnson told reporters.

Sen. Jim Justice (R-W.Va.), too, said he now supported ending the filibuster, saying he’d talked to a custodian in the Dirksen Senate Office building who hugged him, crying. Like most federal government workers whose salaries are funded by appropriations, she wasn’t getting paid.

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“If the two sides are going to be at each other’s throat and not making progress for that lady that’s the custodian in Dirksen right now, then I would support the filibuster, you know, ending it,” Justice said, referring to furloughed workers in the Senate office buildings. “At the same time, I don’t think that’s the thing to do.”

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.), however, has said there’s no chance the necessary majority of senators would support going “nuclear” to change Senate rules to get rid of the filibuster for the regular sort of legislation needed to reopen the government.

“I don’t doubt that he could have some sway with members,” Thune told reporters when he returned to the Capitol from the White House on Wednesday. “But I know where the math is on this issue in the Senate, and ... it’s just not happening.”

Absent a last-minute deal to reopen the government, the shutdown will almost certainly drag on into next week, when the Senate has a previously scheduled recess. It’s not clear yet if Republicans will cancel the recess and keep the chamber in session or not, but Democrats said they were willing to stay in town to keep working on an agreement.