Overview
- A rare Saturday session ended without votes or publicly released bill text, and senators plan to reconvene Sunday after negotiators reported only incremental progress.
- Chuck Schumer proposed reopening the government alongside a one-year extension of ACA premium tax credits, an offer Republicans dismissed as a nonstarter.
- A moderate group led by Jeanne Shaheen is discussing a package that would fund select areas such as food aid, veterans programs and the legislative branch and extend broader funding into December or January with only a promise of a later health care vote.
- John Thune described recent talks as positive and is weighing a stopgap through late January and a three-bill minibus, though any plan still requires 60 votes and the House speaker has not committed to a health care vote.
- President Donald Trump urged scrapping the filibuster and proposed sending ACA subsidy funds directly to individuals, while shutdown impacts continued to grow across air travel, SNAP and Head Start.