Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and his Democratic caucus are sticking to their position. (Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images)
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and his Democratic caucus are still largely entrenched in their position that unless an ironclad deal on expiring Obamacare subsidies is struck, they won’t reopen the government.
During a speech on the Senate floor, Schumer squarely placed the blame for the healthcare issue on Republicans and President Donald Trump as Americans got notices of increased premiums over the weekend.
"The only plan Republicans have for healthcare seems to be to eliminate it, and then to tell working people to go figure it out on their own," he said. "That's not a healthcare plan. That's cruel."
However, his caucus' resolve showed signs of weakening on Monday, when a group of nearly a dozen Senate Democrats met behind closed doors to discuss a way out.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said he was optimistic about the shutdown coming to an end soon, but he wasn’t confident that it would be by the end of this week.
He noted that Republicans have made a plethora of options available to Senate Democrats, including guaranteeing a vote on the expiring subsidies, or "whatever their Obamacare bill is," after the government reopens. When asked if he believed lawmakers were close to reaching an end, he said, "I hope close."
SENATE REPUBLICANS PLOT LONGER-TERM FUNDING BILL AS GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN CONTINUES
President Donald Trump waits for the arrival of Prime Minister of Australia Anthony Albanese at the White House in Washington, Oct. 20, 2025. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
Still, lawmakers are discussing a path forward on the subsidies. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, who has been involved in bipartisan talks, said that her proposal for the subsidies would extend them for two years.
She noted that it would be, "Really, really hard to do any reforms right now," because the insurance rates had been released, and that her proposal was one of many in the mix.
Ultimately, it’ll come down to the right blend of ideas to build an off-ramp for the subsidies. Murkowski said that changing the income cap, which was eliminated when the subsidies were enhanced under former President Joe Biden, and changes to the low-cost premium contribution were just a couple ideas on the table.
"There's no highly brand-new thing that anybody's really talking about," she said. "It's just what's the right concoction?"
But some Senate Democrats are frustrated that Trump has not gotten more involved and argue that unless he gives an explicit greenlight, any deal crafted on the Hill doesn’t matter.
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Trump has agreed to meet with Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., only after the government reopens. And over the weekend, he demanded that Senate Republicans nuke the 60-vote filibuster threshold, something that is unlikely to happen any time soon, if ever.
"At no point since Oct. 1 has Donald Trump agreed to sit down with Democratic leaders," Sen. Andy Kim, D-N.J., said. "So, he can talk all he wants about the filibuster, but until he actually puts some skin in the game and sits down and talks to us, like, that is all meaningless to me. And I honestly, like, don't care about him pontificating this stuff on social media. Like, if he's got time to tweet, he's got time to just come and talk to us."
Alex Miller is a writer for Fox News Digital covering the U.S. Senate.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/schumer-pushes-shutdown-record-books-after-rejecting-gop-bill-14th-time