Fact Cat

John Thune CALLS OUT Democrats EXCUSES for refusing to forgo pay during shutdown

The Senate voted down the GOP-led stopgap spending bill for a 12th time on Wednesday.

Senators voted 54-46 on the bill, which would fund the government through Nov. 21. Democratic Sens. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania and Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada and Independent Sen. Angus King of Maine broke ranks to vote to advance the bill.

Republicans are expected to bring the bill back up for another vote as soon as Thursday as the shutdown rolls on without an end in sight. They will also force a vote Thursday on Sen. Ron Johnson’s (R-Wis.) proposal to pay some federal workers and active duty members of the military.

Led by Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley, Democrats seized the Senate floor on Wednesday to protest President Donald Trump’s presidency amid the government shutdown and push for Republicans to negotiate with them on expiring health subsidies.

Merkley spoke for more than 22 hours, from 6:21 p.m. Tuesday to 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday, pausing for lengthy questions from other Democratic senators.

His speech was one of the longest in Senate history, just short of a similar speech in April by Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey. Booker, who was also protesting Trump, broke the record with a speech that lasted longer than 25 hours, surpassing a 1957 speech by Sen. Strom Thurmond of South Carolina filibustering the advance of the Civil Rights Act.