Government Shutdown 2025 Update: Republicans draft new legislation without health care fix

WASHINGTON - Senate Republicans are drafting a new bipartisan spending package aimed at ending the government shutdown, challenging Democrats to support it.

GOP pushes new plan

Many Democrats said they’ll keep pushing for an extension of expiring health care subsidies, which aren’t expected to be included in the bill.

Senate Democrats, who’ve now voted 14 times against reopening the government, left their second caucus meeting of the week Thursday with few signs of a path forward, with either Republicans or among themselves, to end the shutdown.

A test vote on the still-unreleased package could come as early as Friday. Democrats will need to decide if they will keep pressing for a deal to extend health care subsidies that are set to expire in January or vote to reopen the government and trust Republicans to deliver a future health care vote.

Encouraged by sweeping election wins earlier this week, many Democrats say they won’t back down until Republicans and President Donald Trump agree to negotiate an extension.

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Health care left out

Some Democrats are backing a deal to reopen the government in exchange for a future vote on health care subsidies. 

Meanwhile, there is pressure on both parties to end the growing crisis at airports, pay federal workers, and restore food aid as the shutdown stretches into the longest in U.S. history.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune decided to keep the chamber in session Friday and possibly through the weekend after President Trump urged Republicans at a White House breakfast to end the shutdown. 

Trump called the six-week standoff a "big factor, negative" for GOP performance in Tuesday’s elections.

The bipartisan package proposed by Thune would fund key areas, including food aid, veterans programs, and the legislative branch, while extending funding for the rest of the government through December or January.

The new package would replace the House-passed bill repeatedly rejected by Democrats. That measure would have extended government funding only through Nov. 21.

It remains unclear what Thune, who has refused to negotiate during the shutdown, might offer on health care, or whether enough Democrats would agree to move forward. Republicans have been stuck five votes short of the 60 needed for weeks.