Live updates on government shutdown as Senate holds 10th vote to fund government

The Senate will meet at 10 a.m. At 11 a.m., senators will take a procedural vote on the House-passed continuing resolution to fund the government through Nov. 21, as well as another procedural vote on a judicial nomination, according to Majority Whip John Barrasso’s office.

Then, at 1:30 p.m., the Senate will take a procedural vote on the Department of Defense funding measure for a full year.

The Senate is expected to vote today on whether to advance an individual, one-year appropriations bill to fund the Pentagon, part of a shift in approach as the shutdown drags on.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune initiated consideration of the Department of Defense’s full-year appropriations bill earlier this week, and the upper chamber is expected to take a procedural vote on moving the measure forward Thursday afternoon.

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The Senate is expected to vote late this morning on the House-passed measure to fund the government through Nov. 21, after the measure failed for the ninth time Wednesday afternoon.

Republicans had hoped to gain new support from Democrats on the measure, but the bill failed to win new votes from the minority before the shutdown began. There are 53 Republicans in the Senate, but because most legislation requires 60 votes to advance in the upper chamber, Republicans need Democratic support to reopen the government.

But today, GOP leaders in the Senate will also try a different approach to jumpstart some funding with a vote Thursday afternoon on advancing a full-year defense appropriations bill. That vote will also require 60 votes, and it remains to be seen whether Democrats will support it.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune said in an MSNBC interview broadcast Thursday morning that he told Democrats “if you need a vote, we can guarantee you a vote by a certain date” on their health insurance demands.

The South Dakota Republican added that “at some point, Democrats will have to take ‘yes’ for an answer.”

Democrats have made expanding health insurance tax credits a key condition of their support for government reopening. But many of them indicated that the Republicans’ assurances were not enough.

Still, Thune believes “there is a way forward.” He also said health insurance tax credits must “include reforms,” ​​and he said he couldn’t guarantee the outcome of any vote.

“I can’t guarantee it will pass,” he said. “I can guarantee you there will be a process and you will get a vote.”

When asked if the government shutdown could last through Thanksgiving, Thune told MSNBC, “I hope it doesn’t.” The bill passed by the House, he said, is “the quickest way to end it.”

The Trump administration will continue to pay FBI agents despite the ongoing government shutdown that has frozen the salaries of nearly all federal employees, FBI Director Kash Patel announced Wednesday.

“You found a way to make these people pay during a government shutdown,” Patel told President Trump at an unrelated Oval Office event. “On behalf of the FBI, we owe you a great debt.”

Patel did not specify the source of the funds that would be used to pay the officers.

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