The non-answers came during a tense exchange with reporters regarding the upcoming January 30 funding deadline. When asked if his party plans to use federal funding as leverage for health care demands—a strategy employed during the record-breaking shutdown that ended in November—Schumer avoided a simple “yes” or “no.”
[snip]
President Donald Trump ended the previous standoff on Nov. 12 by signing a spending package that restored federal worker pay and kept the lights on through January. However, that reprieve is temporary. According to the Congressional Research Service, roughly 90% of federal spending remains unfunded beyond the January 30 expiration date.
Reporters pressed Schumer on whether the strategy that led to the fall shutdown was back on the table for the new year.
[snip]
“It’s very, very hard to put it back in the bottom,” he said, referring to the expiration of subsidies. “Once it expires, the toothpaste is out of the tube.”
The political landscape remains complicated. While Democrats ended the last shutdown without securing the extension of enhanced Obamacare premium tax credits they sought, Senate Majority Leader John Thune has agreed to schedule a vote on a Democratic ACA bill in December.
[snip]
Currently, only about 10% of the federal government is funded through the fiscal year. Without new appropriations bills or a continuing resolution by the end of next month, the government faces another closure.
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* Original Article:
https://www.tampafp.com/schumer-refuses-to-rule-out-second-shutdown-as-january-deadline-looms/
