US government shutdown stretches as progressives reject Republicans’ healthcare promises

The US Senate will hold two more votes on Thursday as the federal government shutdown stretches into its third week and prominent progressives in Congress rejected Republican promises to discuss healthcare subsidies after the government is funded.

The Senate on Thursday afternoon will vote for the 10th time on a short-term Republican funding bill, which needs 60 votes and is expected to fail again. A second vote on Pentagon funding on Thursday could begin the process of fully funding military operations and ending the lapse in military pay if it passes. After the votes, senators are expected to leave Washington for the weekend, almost guaranteeing the shutdown lasts until at least Monday.

The Senate majority leader, John Thune, made his clearest offer yet to Democrats on Thursday morning, telling MSNBC he would guarantee them a vote on extending Affordable Care Act subsidies – the most crucial ask from the Democratic side – by a fixed date if they agree to reopen the government. “At some point, Democrats have to take yes for an answer,” Thune said.

On Wednesday evening, the progressive senator Bernie Sanders and representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez pre-emptively rejected that kind of promise during a 90-minute CNN town hall, insisting they need actual legislation signed into law before they will budge.

“I don’t accept IOUs. I don’t accept pinky promises. That’s not the business that I’m in,” Ocasio-Cortez told the audience. When asked if a Trump pledge would be enough, Sanders replied mockingly: “Oh yeah, no doubt, because the president is a very honest man.”

The New York congresswoman and Vermont senator rejected any short-term fix, calling it an attempt to delay political pain until after next year’s midterm elections. “What we will not accept is for the ACA premiums to skyrocket on the American people,” Ocasio-Cortez said.

Meanwhile, the House speaker, Mike Johnson, has kept the chamber out of session for four weeks after Republicans passed their funding bill, with GOP leaders arguing that returning to Washington would only reduce pressure on Senate Democrats. Johnson and the Democratic minority leader, Hakeem Jeffries, have traded barbs over the month, and have now agreed to debate on C-Span, though no date has been set.

Thune said he would support extending the healthcare subsidies if they included reforms such as income caps, but he would not commit to a one-year extension estimated to cost $35bn annually, and acknowledged he could not guarantee an outcome. He did not rule out the potential for the shutdown to run until Thanksgiving, over a month away: “I hope it doesn’t last through Thanksgiving,” he said.

The standoff has left federal workers without paychecks for weeks, with no end in sight. At the CNN town hall, one worker with four children asked how he was supposed to feed his family. Another woman said her housing was at risk because the shutdown had blocked her government-backed loan.

Ocasio-Cortez tried to reassure them while holding firm: “My hope is that we’re ready to resolve this as quickly as possible.”