Senate Democrats mulled offers from Republicans on a way out of the government shutdown, but have yet to land on a final play call as the closure blasts through record-breaking territory. (Tom Brenner/Getty Images)
"Democrats are ready to clear the way to quickly pass a government funding bill that includes healthcare affordability," Schumer said. "Leader Thune just needs to add a clean, one-year extension of the [Obamacare] tax credits to the CR so that we can immediately address rising health care costs. That's not a negotiation. It's an extension of current law, something we do all the time around here."
"Now the ball is in the Republicans' court," he continued. "We need Republicans to just say ‘yes.’"
Whether Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., and Senate Republicans will accept the offer remains in the air. Republicans are set to meet Friday afternoon and are expected to discuss the Democrats' olive branch.
Initially, Thune had planned to hold a vote on the House-passed plan as a means to amend it and attach a trio of spending bills in a package known as a minibus to jumpstart the government funding process.
However, that plan was canned Friday morning after Thune charged that the "wheels came off" of ongoing bipartisan discussions with Senate Democrats on the minibus and a path forward.
It also comes after Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., made a bid to have his bill that would ensure that federal workers and the military would be paid during this shutdown and future shutdowns move through a fast-track process known as unanimous consent that doesn't require a full vote of the Senate.
'TWISTED IRONY': DEMOCRATS RISK BETRAYING THEIR OWN PET ISSUES WITH GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN GAMBLE
The Senate is leaving Washington, D.C., for the weekend as Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., and Republicans work to peel more Democrats to support their plan to reopen the government. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
However, Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., blocked the bill – despite it being amended to include furloughed federal workers into the mix – over lingering concerns that it still gave President Donald Trump too much power to pick and choose "which federal employees are paid and when."
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That move prompted a fired-up Thune to question why exactly Peters, and more broadly Senate Democrats, would object to the bill, given that it would solve a major pain point of the shutdown. He said that lawmakers would vote on the bill on Friday.
"In other words, we're going to keep federal employees hostage," Thune said of Peters' objection.
"It's about leverage isn't it, that's what ya'll have been saying," he continued.
Alex Miller is a writer for Fox News Digital covering the U.S. Senate.
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https://www.foxnews.com/politics/schumer-dems-unveil-alternative-shutdown-plan-ask-1-year-extension-obamacare-subsidies