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Government shutdown updates: Senate vote marks step towards ending federal shutdown

The bill advanced by a vote of 60-40.

President Donald Trump on Sunday offered a bit more insight into his proposal that Obamacare subsidies should go directly to Americans' Health Savings Accounts to pay for health care rather than sending funds to insurance companies through the Affordable Care Act.

Meanwhile, the Senate voted Sunday night on a test vote that would fund the government through Jan. 31 and end the 40-day government shutdown, the longest in U.S. history. Enough Democrats voted to pass the bill.

And the Department of Agriculture in a late Saturday night memo ordered states to reverse any steps they've taken to issue SNAP benefits and threatened to impose financial penalties on states that do not “comply” quickly.


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Senators brush off talk of compromise that would end shutdown

A day before Congress ties its record for the longest government shutdown, some senators appeared no more optimistic about the chances of ending the current standoff between parties in order to open the government back up.

Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., said there’s been some rumblings in the Senate on a possible agreement to end the shutdown -- that Democrats would open the government if Republicans agree to pass three appropriations bills that address longer-term funding bills.

Kennedy largely brushed off the idea, saying that because the exchange doesn’t directly address health care, which is the Democrats’ red line in the standoff, he doesn’t see how it would be a formidable compromise.

“There's a movement on the Senate floor to try to get Democrats' agreement to open it up in exchange for us passing three of the approps bills. I don't know if that'll work or not. It's got nothing to do with health insurance. You can, you can agree on approps bills, but, but that still doesn't solve the health insurance problem,” Kennedy said.

He also noted that any appropriations bill would likely have to be “blessed” by Trump in order to be factored into a compromise.

Meanwhile, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., shot down the idea that Republicans and Democrats are coming to the table in order to negotiate the end of the shutdown.

“What I know so far is the Republicans have agreed to negotiate so far exactly zero times. Donald Trump and the Republicans need to come to the negotiating table. We can sit down and talk, as has happened in every other government shutdown, sit down and talk, and then we can achieve a deal. That's how negotiations work,” Warren said coming out of the Capitol on Monday.

“But Mr. ‘Art of the Deal’ doesn't seem to understand that. He thinks he can bend reality. He thinks he can use hungry children as a bargaining chip against Democrats,” she added. “It's only Democrats who care whether or not seniors go hungry. Well, it is Democrats who care, and it's Americans who care. Republicans should come to the table and negotiate.”

-ABC News’ Hannah Demissie


Schumer says Trump ‘dangling the threat of hunger’ over SNAP recipients’ heads

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer placed blame on Trump and Republicans for the lapse in SNAP funding, saying that the Trump administration “must do more” to ensure beneficiaries receive their full benefits.

“After the courts have spoken, the administration, continues to use kids, seniors, disabled Americans and working parents as political pawns, dangling the threat of hunger over their heads,” Schumer said Monday afternoon on the Senate floor. “Providing partial benefits is not enough, is not compliant with the law, and it's particularly cruel of Trump with the Thanksgiving season around the corner.”

Schumer also expressed outrage at the “sticker shock” Americans are feeling as open enrollment begins and they watch the cost of their health insurance premiums rise while knocking Trump for remodeling the Lincoln Bedroom bathroom.

“While Donald Trump is bragging about remodeling bathrooms at the White House, Americans are panicking about how they will afford health care next year,” he said.

But as the shutdown rages on, Schumer showed no signs of caving, laying out the Democratic position yet again.

“Democrats have been very clear from the start. We need to lower people's health care costs. We need to reopen the government. We need to extend the ACA premium credits. That is what the majority of Americans want,” Schumer said.

-ABC News’ John Parkinson


Thune rebuffs Trump's repeated call to change filibuster

President Donald Trump's repeated calls over the last few days to upend the Senate filibuster rule that requires 60 votes to pass most legislation seems to have had little impact on Senate Majority Leader John Thune, who told reporters on Monday that there won't be changes to the Senate rule any time soon.

Thune gave a direct "no" when asked if Trump's latest comments change his long-held stance on the need to preserve the Senate filibuster. "The votes aren't there," he followed.


Thune is likely referring to votes by his own members. It would take at least 51 votes to overturn the Senate filibuster rule. Thune's comment is indicative of a number of comments from rank-and-file members suggesting they wouldn't go along with a change to the rule.

"Does that surprise anybody?" Thune jested on Monday when asked about Trump's renewed call to make changes to the Senate rules.

Thune said he's spoken to Trump about the filibuster. "I think we all know his view," Thune said. "And we all know my view."

-ABC News' Allison Pecorin


Pressed by ABC, Jeffries brushes off Democrat blame for SNAP funding lapse

Pressed by ABC News, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries brushed off the notion that Democrats -- who are withholding their votes on a clean government funding bill -- are in any way to blame for the lapse in critical SNAP food assistance.


"Wouldn't the easiest way to fund SNAP just be for Democrats to vote to fund the government?" ABC News Capitol Hill Correspondent asked Jeffries on Monday.

"No, the easiest way to fund snap is for the administration to do exactly what is done in so many other instances, including the administration finding $40 billion in order to bail out their right-wing dictator, wannabe friend in Argentina ... This is an intentional, vicious choice that Donald Trump and Republicans are making, and not a single American should go hungry, not a single American, and it's the fault of Republicans that that is happening in this country," Jeffries said.

Democrats continue to point out SNAP has never run out of funding in its 60-year history, including in past shutdowns. Jeffries demanded the Trump administration dip into the U.S. Department of Agriculture's emergency fund to help cover the program.

-ABC News' John Parkinson and Lauren Peller