Schumer drops counteroffer to reopen government after GOP bid fails 14 times

Senate Democrats unveiled their alternative to Republicans’ plan to reopen the government, which would extend the expiration of Obamacare credits by a year, but the move was quickly rejected by angry Senate Republicans.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., dramatically announced the plan on the Senate floor Friday afternoon, against the backdrop of the Senate Democratic caucus, in an effort to show a tangible version of the unity found among Democrats since their Election Day sweep earlier this week.

Schumer argued that after 14 failed votes on the continuing resolution (CR) passed by the House, “it’s clear we need to try something different.”

He proposed granting a one-year extension to the expiring Obamacare subsidies and creating a bipartisan committee that could continue negotiations on how to deal with the subsidies after the government reopens, a clear nod to the Republican Party’s position that negotiations will not take place until the government reopens.

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Senate Democrats have mulled Republican offers to exit the government shutdown, but have yet to reach a final call as the shutdown shatters records. (Tom Brenner/Getty Images)

“Democrats are ready to lead the way in quickly passing a government funding bill that includes health care affordability,” Schumer said. “Leader Thune simply needs to add a net one-year extension of the (Obamacare) tax credits to CR so we can immediately address rising health care costs. This is not a negotiation. This is an extension of current law, something we do all the time here.”

“Now the ball is in the Republicans’ court,” he continued. “We need Republicans to just say ‘yes’.”

But Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., and Senate Republicans roundly rejected Schumer’s olive branch, calling the proposal “unsustainable.”

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Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., and Republicans are working to convince more Democrats to support their plan to reopen the government. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

Senate Republicans universally condemned the proposal after a closed-door meeting, and said a sharp one-year extension of the subsidies would continue to send more and more taxpayer money to insurance companies.

“We are not going to continue, for a year, to burden insurance companies with taxpayer dollars to get an inferior result,” Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said.

“This is absolutely insane,” said Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala. “And it’s kind of crazy, because these are the same people who always say they want to go after the big guys, but yet they let the big guys take advantage.”

Initially, Thune had planned to hold a vote on the House-passed plan to amend it and join three spending bills into one package, known as a minibus, to restart the government’s funding process.

However, that plan was canceled Friday morning after Thune charged that the “wheels have come off” on ongoing bipartisan discussions with Senate Democrats about the minibus and the path forward. It is now likely that the Senate will vote for the 15th time on Saturday on the same plan.

What happens next is also in limbo. Despite Republicans’ desire to vote Saturday on the House-passed CR, it remains unclear whether that will happen.

“We’ll see if there’s anything we can vote on,” Thune said. “That remains to be seen.”

It also comes after Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., attempted to pass his bill that would ensure federal workers and military members would be paid during this and future shutdowns through an expedited process known as unanimous consent that does not require a full Senate vote.

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Sen. Ron Johnson, Republican of Wisconsin, speaks with reporters at the U.S. Capitol after the House passed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, May 22, 2025. (Tom Williams/Getty Images)

However, Sen. Gary Peters, Democrat of Michigan, blocked the bill — although it was amended to include furloughed federal workers — due to lingering concerns that it still gave President Donald Trump too much power to choose “which federal employees get paid and when.”

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The move prompted a heated Thune to question why, exactly, Peters, and Senate Democrats more broadly, would oppose the bill, given that it would solve a major problem with the shutdown. He said lawmakers would vote on the bill Friday.

“In other words, we’re going to hold federal employees hostage,” Thune said of Peters’ objection.

“It’s about leverage, right? That’s what you said,” he said.