Senate Democrats, led by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., have largely unified around the push for expiring Obamacare tax credits. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty)
Republicans argue that any negotiations for the expiring subsidies can happen once the government reopens.
"Democrats know we need to reopen the government, and they know that they're appropriately getting blamed for shutting it down, and we're going to continue to bring up the continuing resolution," Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso, R-Wyo., said. "There's things they want to negotiate, and we can do that once the government is open."
The White House, particularly Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Russ Vought, and President Donald Trump have ramped up pressure on Senate Democrats, too, with targeted spending cuts to blue states and threats of mass firings of federal workers.
But Vought’s targeted cuts likely do not help Democrats move closer to supporting the GOP’s continuing resolution (CR).
"Russ Vought is a menace whether the government is open or closed. He wakes up figuring, ‘What damage can I do today?’ That's what he does," Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., said. "So, the status of government [being] open or closed, it's not relevant to Russell Vought. He just goes on his rampage every day."
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Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., speaks to a reporter after a vote in the U.S. Capitol on July 23, 2025 (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., previously voted with Schumer in March to keep the government open. The retiring senator was also one of the nearly dozen lawmakers in a bipartisan huddle on the Senate floor that sparked early negotiations on the expiring credits.
Peters said that it was "premature" to say there was a deal or plan locked in after those talks, but he warned that deeper issues were still at play for congressional Democrats when it came to dealing with the GOP and White House.
"There are all sorts of trust issues, both in the Senate and the House, so we have to work through all of that," he said.
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And Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., was one of just three Democratic caucus members who have now voted twice with Republicans on their CR. While she supported reopening the government, she still blamed Republicans for ignoring the Obamacare tax credits.
"[Republicans] created this crisis … and they need to address it," she said. "They have no moral standing, no moral standing to stand back and say that this is all on the Democrats. They are in control, they created this crisis. People are suffering."
When asked if she trusted Republicans in negotiations, Cortez Masto countered, "You tell me."
"They're already entrenched in their positions, unfortunately, and not thinking about the American public," she said.
Alex Miller is a writer for Fox News Digital covering the U.S. Senate.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/democrats-refuse-budge-over-obamacare-fight-shutdown-drags