Oct. 6 (UPI) — The U.S. Senate is expected to hold a vote on a stopgap funding bill Monday evening as the government enters the sixth day of a shutdown.
The upper chamber is scheduled to hold its first vote on reopening the government at 5:30 p.m. EDT, according to ABC News.
Lawmakers must reach a supermajority, or 60 votes, to pass a continuing resolution that would fund the government. The Senate’s 53 Republicans need the votes of seven Democrats to reach that supermajority.
At issue are subsidies for Affordable Care Act premiums set to expire in the new year. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said his party wouldn’t support the stopgap legislation unless Republicans provisions extending the ADA subsidies.
The Trump administration has said it’s against extending the ADA subsidies, falsely claiming undocumented immigrants are taking advantage of it. Undocumented immigrants are not eligible for health insurance under the ADA, according to the federal healthcare.gov website.
Speaking Sunday on CBS’ Face the Nation, Schumer said Republicans must negotiate with Democrats on the short-term funding bill.
“We ought to be talking about the real issue here, which is that we have a healthcare crisis in America caused by Republicans,” he said. “They’ve … barreled us towards a shutdown because they don’t want to deal with that crisis. Plain and simple.
President Donald Trump has threatened to cut government agencies supported by Democrats if they don’t vote to reopen the government.
Kevin Hassett, the director of the National Economic Council, warned the president will “start taking sharp measures” Monday.
“You know, my friends over at the Council of Economic Advisors gave ma report at the end of the week that said that it costs the U.S. GDP about $15 billion a week for a shutdown, or about a 10th of a percent of GDP,” Hassett said on an appearance on CNBC’s Squawk Box on Monday.
“And so, if the shutdown continues for a long time, then there’s going to be a lot of things that don’t happen, and it will show up at the GDP number.”