Government shutdown reaches 30-day mark with no end in sight, as NW Republicans and Democrats trade blame

Oct. 30—WASHINGTON — The government shutdown reached the 30-day mark on Thursday, as senators left town for the weekend with no clear path to resolving the dispute over health care costs that has kept Congress from funding federal programs.

With the House in recess since Republicans passed a short-term funding bill in mid-September, the focus has been on the Senate, where all but three members of the Democratic caucus have repeatedly voted against that measure, demanding that the GOP majorities in both chambers agree to extend expiring health insurance subsidies. At least eight Democrats would need to vote with Republicans to reach the 60-vote threshold to pass the bill.

In a call with reporters on Thursday, Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, the top Democrat on the committee responsible for government funding, said this is the first time in her 32 years in the Senate that GOP leaders have refused to negotiate with their Democratic counterparts while demanding Democrats' votes.

"It's stunning to me that the president is pretending like this is not a problem," Murray said in response to a question from The Spokesman-Review. "So what it is going to take is for the Republican leadership, in the White House and here in Congress, to reach out and talk to Democrats to figure a solution to that. I don't have an answer for you on how that's going to look, because they haven't even gotten in the room to talk about it — which is, to me, the most frustrating thing about all of this."

Democrats have made other demands — including that the GOP undo the estimated $1 trillion in future cuts to Medicaid that was a pillar of the massive tax-and-spending bill Republicans passed in July — but the focus has been on the health insurance subsidies as Nov. 1 approaches.

That's when Washington and most other states begin their open enrollment periods — Idaho's began Oct. 15 — and Democrats hope Republicans will feel more pressure when Americans who rely on health insurance purchased through marketplaces like the Washington Health Benefit Exchange and Your Health Idaho see their premiums rise as the subsidies end.

But GOP senators, like Idaho's Mike Crapo and Jim Risch, have shown no sign of wavering in their demand that Democrats help reopen the government before negotiating over health care spending. They argue that the subsidies, which Democrats enacted during the COVID-19 pandemic to make so-called "Obamacare" insurance plans more affordable, are not a sustainable solution to rising health care costs.

"The problem does not lie with the Republicans," Risch said in remarks posted to X on Thursday. "We have voted over and over and over again to open the government, pass a clean spending bill, which would solve this problem immediately."

Crapo, who leads the Senate Finance Committee, said in a hearing on Tuesday that the Democrats are refusing to fund the government unless Republicans agree to what he described as a massive increase in spending, undoing restrictions on Medicaid eligibility that are set to take effect in 2027.

Extending the health insurance subsidies, Crapo said, would "simply throw more money at the issue rather than actually negotiating over real solutions that are needed to fix the coming crisis." He conceded that "premiums are going to go up dramatically" but said that isn't because of the temporary subsidies ending.

According to the nonpartisan health care research organization KFF, premiums for insurance purchased through Affordable Care Act marketplaces will rise by an average of 26% in 2026, before factoring in the expiring subsidies. If those subsidies are allowed to expire, KFF estimates, insurance premiums for those who currently receive them would more than double on average.

Murray and her fellow Democrats say they can't trust that Republicans would negotiate in good faith to control health care costs once the shutdown ends. Throughout the week, reports emerged of senators proposing new short-term spending agreements that could create a framework for health care talks, but Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., sent them home Thursday with no concrete deal announced.

Another sticking point — one that Democrats have chosen not to emphasize publicly — is that Senate rules currently require a bipartisan, 60-vote supermajority to pass spending legislation but only a simple majority of 51 votes to defund those programs. At President Donald Trump's behest, Republicans have rescinded funding that was approved by members of both parties, undermining the annual appropriations process.

As the shutdown stretches on, federal employees continue to work without pay, causing concerns that air traffic controllers and other vital workers will stop showing up for work.

"This is not a game. There are real people suffering," Rep. Michael Baumgartner, R-Spokane, said in a call with reporters on Sunday, calling on Democrats to "do the right thing and open up the government."

The Trump administration has taken extraordinary steps to keep paying active-duty troops, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and employees at the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The White House has even sought to use private donations to pay troops.

"Somebody stepped forward and paid our military for the time being," Baumgartner said on Sunday, referring to a $130 million donation from billionaire Timothy Mellon, equivalent to less than one day's average pay or about $100 for each active-duty service member.

Another looming deadline is the end of federal funding to states for the food assistance program known as SNAP, as the Trump administration opts not to use emergency funding to fill in that gap, a decision Democrats have denounced as a cynical move to exert political pressure at the expense of hungry Americans. Republicans have also voiced concerns over the lapse in funding for the program, often called food stamps.

Senators will return to the Capitol on Monday and are expected to continue talks to end the shutdown. The House will remain in recess, but Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., would need to call the lower chamber back into session to pass any new bill to fund the government.

Orion Donovan Smith's work is funded in part by members of the Spokane community via the Community Journalism and Civic Engagement Fund. This story can be republished by other organizations for free under a Creative Commons license. For more information on this, please contact our newspaper's managing editor.

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