Trump should join negotiations, Kelly says

A Republican bill to end the government shutdown failed in the Senate for a 10th time on Thursday, leaving lawmakers deadlocked as the cut in federal funding extends into a third week.

The resolution failed by a vote of 51 to 45, mostly not in line with the party line. Sixty senators are needed to approve any provisional bill; Republicans hold a narrow majority of 53 seats in the Senate.

Earlier Thursday, Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly He called on President Donald Trump to join negotiations between Republican and Democratic senators to break the impasse.

“I think we need the president to get this done, he needs to reach out to Mike Johnson and John Thune,” Kelly said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” referring to the Republicans, the House speaker and Senate majority leader, respectively.

“They seem to be going his way on everything. That’s how this is going to end,” the Arizona senator said.

The sticking point in passing a funding deal is that Democrats insist such a bill would extend Enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies, which are set to expire at the end of 2025.

A Democratic bill is expected to become law that would keep in place the extra subsidies that nearly 22 million Americans use to reduce the cost of Obamacare health plans. cost About $1.5 trillion over ten years.

“The president talked about how he wants this to be fixed. He wants these subsidies addressed,” Kelly said.

“So he recognizes that we need to open up the government and solve the subsidy problem under the Affordable Care Act, and that’s all we want,” Kelly said. “So I don’t understand what the problem is.”

Thune and other Republicans have said they would be willing to discuss whether to extend the enhanced ACA tax credits once the short-term funding extension is approved.

In an interview with MSNBC on Thursday. “Good morning Joe“We’re happy to sit down and talk about tax credits, which is an ACA-related solution, but it needs to happen in a separate context, away from the government being open,” Thune said. he said.

“This is not a health fight. It’s a very simple funding fight. It always has been,” Johnson said in an interview on “Squawk Box” on Thursday. he said.

“They created the hype. The subsidies won’t expire until the end of the year,” Johnson said.

“We were always planning to have a thoughtful discussion and debate on this issue in October and November before the subsidies expire. They know that. They moved it from the end of the year and pushed it back to September and tried to act like that was the problem. It never was,” Johnson said.

The speaker also said there would need to be “a dramatic amount of reform” to the ACA subsidies “if they are actually going to be extended.”

Punchbowl News reported Thursday that “a bipartisan group of senators are discussing several different potential exit points for the shutdown stalemate that includes increasing Obamacare subsidies.”

“The group, led in part by Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), is discussing the possibility of two side-by-side votes to end the shutdown,” Punchbowl reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

“The first vote will be on reopening the government, while the second will be on a one-year extension of the Obamacare enhanced premium tax credits, as well as a commitment to implement a longer-term solution by a certain date.”