SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
It is day four of the shutdown of the U.S. government. Since Tuesday, the U.S. Senate has taken up the same votes to fund the government temporarily with continuing resolutions. They still don't have the votes. Is there an agreement even on the distant horizon? We're joined now by NPR congressional correspondent Barbara Sprunt. Barbara, thanks for being with us.
BARBARA SPRUNT, BYLINE: Hey, thank you.
SIMON: The Senate yesterday failed once more to advance competing plans to extend federal funding and end the shutdown. How are those plans different again?
SPRUNT: Well, one is a GOP plan that has already passed the House. It would fund the government through November 21. And then there's a Democratic counterproposal as well. That would fund the government through October, and it includes an extension of health care tax credits that were boosted up during the pandemic. Those are on track to expire at the end of the year. Now, Republicans have said they'll negotiate on that point, but only after the government is funded. And even then, Senate Majority Leader John Thune has said it would not be a simple process.
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JOHN THUNE: We can't make commitments or promises on the COVID subsidies because that's not something that we can guarantee that there are the votes there to do.
SIMON: There were a few Democrats who did support the Republican proposal this week. Has there been any more movement, or are the numbers tightening?
SPRUNT: No, they are not. It has been the same as that first vote, where we saw two Democratic senators and one independent joining Republicans. In fact, there's been so little movement on any kind of negotiation between the two parties that the Senate isn't even expected to stay over the weekend and do more votes. Here's Thune yesterday when asked about the possibility of weekend work.
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THUNE: Hopefully, over the weekend, they'll have a chance to think about it, and maybe some of these conversations start to result in something to where we can start moving some votes and actually get this thing passed.
SPRUNT: The impasse is essentially this - because the Senate needs Democrats to reach that 60-vote threshold to pass this kind of bill, Democrats, who, of course, have very little power as the party in the minority, say that demanding that there be some kind of negotiations between the two parties is appropriate. Unsurprisingly, Republicans do not share that view. They say Democrats are holding the American people hostage via this shutdown.
SIMON: Of course, in the meantime, the White House is proceeding with plans to cut programs and spending, often it seems in areas with lots of Democratic voters. What is the argument they make here?
SPRUNT: Well, this is very much in line with the administration's thesis when it comes to its role in cutting programs and government workers. Items on the chopping block include some transportation projects in New York, the home state of both the House and Senate Democratic leaders. Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told our colleague, Steve Inskeep, yesterday that the administration views that as Minority Leader Chuck Schumer's fault.
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KAROLINE LEAVITT: They can't show up to work right now. So that project is currently temporarily halted because of Chuck Schumer's shutdown. So Chuck Schumer did that to himself. He did that to his constituents in New York.
SIMON: And how do Democrats respond?
SPRUNT: Well, Democrats have called this an intimidation tactic. They've blasted a plan from the White House's budget arm to fire federal workers instead of temporarily furloughing them, which is usually what happens in a shutdown. Independent Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont said he thinks that plan will backfire.
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BERNIE SANDERS: And the idea that you have a president who says, hey, your state voted against me. We're going to cut funding for you. That is not only illegal, not only outrageous. It is unconstitutional.
SPRUNT: So Democrats, like Sanders, insist these cuts are illegal, but it's an open question right now. There are several active lawsuits challenging the administration's cuts to congressionally approved spending.
SIMON: NPR's Barbara Sprunt. Thanks so much for all your reporting.
SPRUNT: Thank you, Scott. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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