Senate Democrats are divided over whether Republicans have offered enough to reach a deal to end the government shutdown this week.
Many centrist Democrats are signaling to their Republican colleagues that an agreement could be reached in the next few days.
But other Senate Democrats have warned that reopening the government without a real concession from President Trump on extending expiring health insurance premium subsidies — or at least a strong signal of good faith on the part of the president — would be a big mistake.
Democrats are getting closer to an agreement with Republicans on getting the regular appropriations process back on track, a strong Democratic priority, but both parties have not made much progress on rising health care costs, the biggest hurdle.
Senate Republican negotiators said Monday that talks may be on the verge of reaching an agreement, but some centrist Democrats warned that Trump’s failure to show serious interest in the health care issue is raising a red flag.
“I believe we are finally making progress. It’s too early to declare that this nightmare of a shutdown is over, but I am very cautiously hopeful that this will be resolved by the end of this week,” Senator Susan Collins (R-Maine) told reporters as she left the Capitol on Monday evening.
“There needs to be more specificity in what is being asked for and beyond that I get the sense that some Democrats are waiting until after [Tuesday’s] Elections are an issue,” she said.
He said Democrats are “facing the reality of people losing food stamps in the middle of the month and women with infants not being able to get money from the WIC program and low-income individuals losing access to critical heating assistance.”
Collins said she wants the Senate to advance a new stopgap spending bill, known as a continuing resolution (CR), that would fund the government through December 19, an acknowledgment that the House-passed CR deadline, November 21, is now less than three weeks away. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R.S.D.) also indicated on Monday that he was looking for a long term For CR, possibly in January.
Senate Republicans need at least eight votes to reopen the government. So far he has received the support of only three members of the Democratic caucus: Sens. John Fetterman (D-Pa.), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) and Angus King (Maine), an independent who caucuses with the Democrats.
Retired Senator Gary Peters (D-Mich.), a key player in talks among moderate Democrats to reopen the government, said discussions are making more progress than they were a few days ago, and highlighted bipartisan support on the Senate Appropriations Committee to advance 2026 spending bills.
“We’re trying to find a way to open up the government and get the things we want to get done. We’re going to keep doing that,” he said. “I would say progress is being made. I’ll leave it at that.”
Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), a prominent centrist who is in the middle of negotiations, said Trump has not done enough to show he is serious about health care enough to finalize a deal to reopen the government.
Asked whether flight delays across the country mean it’s time to open the government, Kelly indicated that Democrats would support a funding bill “at a time when the president will be engaged and we will have a real conversation on what to do to deal with these rising costs.”
“I’m all over the country seeing stuff from people I went to high school with [who] They will not be able to afford their health care,” he said.
Kelly said he was “surprised” that Trump did not appear more conscious of the problem of rising health care costs in Republican- and Democratic-led states.
“He didn’t seem to care that much about it,” she said of Trump’s interview with CBS’s “60 Minutes,” which aired Sunday night.
He said Trump “certainly” needs to do more to reach an agreement this week, adding that he “must talk to us.”
Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn) warned on Monday that Democratic colleagues should not vote to reopen the government without a real victory on the issue of keeping health insurance premiums under control.
Murphy, who returned to Washington on Monday afternoon after spending the day in Miami listening to voters’ fears about rising health care costs, warned that “people are going to die” unless Democrats pressure Republicans to do something significant on health care costs.
He said, “The shutdown hurts me, but the pain I heard in Florida is going to be worse than anything that happens with a shutdown. Because when premiums go up 100 to 200 percent, those lives are ruined. People are going to die.” “I think people out there want us to fight.”
One NBC poll released on Monday found that 52 percent of registered voters nationwide believe Trump and congressional Republicans are more to blame for the 35-day shutdown, while 42 percent say Democrats are more to blame.
The survey also found Voters prefer Democrats to Republicans The fight for control of Congress led by 8 points – 50 percent to 42 percent – the largest lead on the generic ballot since 2018, strengthening Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer (NY)’s argument that shutting down the government over rising health care costs is a political winner.
Schumer on Monday criticized Trump for not acknowledging the huge financial burden facing millions of Americans due to rising health care costs, which will only increase after enhanced subsidies under the Affordable Care Act expire.
“If you watched Donald Trump on 60 Minutes this weekend, you saw a president with complete disregard for the pain his policies are causing working people,” Schumer said on the Senate floor.
Trump has not made the path to a deal easier to reopen the government by calling on Senate Republicans to eliminate the filibuster, a long-standing Senate tradition, and to overcome Democratic opposition to a continuing resolution passed by a clean House.
And the president didn’t shy away from refusing to negotiate any concessions on ending health insurance premium subsidies, declaring on CBS Sunday that he “will not be extorted.”
The Trump administration asked a judge on Monday to use some contingency money to pay 50 percent of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits during the shutdown, giving Democrats more breathing room to negotiate a deal to reopen the government.
Another important event this week will be Tuesday’s gubernatorial elections in New Jersey and Virginia, where Democratic candidates are leading. Some Senate Democrats think they can declare a political victory if their party claims in both states that they have successfully overcome Republican opposition to expanding health care benefits.
But Democrats will have little else to point to as gains from the shutdown, other than what Thune has offered for several weeks: a vote on a bill to extend increased subsidies under the Affordable Care Act and a “process” for negotiating long-term health reform with Trump and GOP leaders in Congress.
Murphy, a potential 2028 presidential candidate, said if Democrats perform as expected in the New Jersey and Virginia elections on Tuesday, it will be a sign of hard work and a hard fight.
“I think it’s pretty clear, and I think [Tuesday’s] As the results confirm, the American people want us to fight for them,” he said.
