Senators are expected to vote Friday on competing plans to temporarily fund the government past the end of the month as a partisan standoff ratchets up the chances for a shutdown, according to two people granted anonymity to describe private negotiations.
The plan, which still had to be finalized as of 6:45 p.m., comes after Republicans huddled behind closed doors for a second time Thursday to talk about the path forward as Congress barrels toward the Sept. 30 midnight deadline.
“The Democrats obviously want to vote on their [continuing resolution] … And we want to vote on the House CR,” Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) said, adding that Senate leaders are “talking to see if they can get there.“
It would be a shift from just hours ago when Majority Leader John Thune indicated that there wasn’t “much sentiment” inside the GOP for giving Democrats a vote on their alternative funding proposal.
But Democrats are also playing procedural hardball over the Senate’s ability to leave town for a scheduled one-week break. Thune, Schumer and all other 98 senators would have to sign off on a deal to hold votes on the competing CR plans tomorrow. The two people said both votes would be held at a 60-vote threshold, meaning both would fail.
Coming out of the Senate GOP meeting, Thune acknowledged that senators are “working on locking something in” but declined to comment further.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer first floated the idea of holding side-by-side votes Friday. It’s not clear what would happen afterward.
Senate Republicans have also discussed returning next Thursday to vote on the House CR — or even staying out of Washington until Sept. 29, less than 48 hours before a shutdown.