The US government shutdown continues, and the appropriations bill is flawed, but bipartisan negotiations have revealed light

The US government shutdown has lasted 34 days, just one day short of the longest shutdown in history. The Senate has tried 13 times to push for a short-term funding bill to reopen the government, but all have failed.

Now John Thune, the Senate majority leader, has pointed out that the bill has a major flaw: even if it passes the Senate in the coming days, there is no guarantee that the government will be able to operate for long enough.

"The funding deadline has to be adjusted," Mr. Thune said on Monday.

The short-term funding bill is in trouble

If the Senate had passed the short-term government funding bill submitted by the House of Representatives at or before the shutdown began, it would have extended the funding deadline to Nov. 21, giving the Congressional Appropriations Committee nearly two months to complete negotiations on the full-year appropriations bill.

Now, on Nov. 3, the seven-week buffer that the short-term funding bill would have allowed appropriators has been reduced to two and a half weeks.

Mr. Thune said the November 21 funding deadline set in the House bill would not give lawmakers enough time to spend the full year on funding before facing another government shutdown, so the Senate's new strategy on government funding would involve some kind of adjustment to the deadline.

"That date has expired, so the question now is what's next," Thune told reporters on Monday.

Thune said he was open to proposals for new deadlines, including extending the short-term funding bill until early 2026 to keep the government open.

There are several ways in which the Senate could change the date if such a Republican-backed bill has the Democratic support it needs to move forward. Thune left open a range of possibilities:The Senate can pass the House bill and amend it, or proceed with a completely new bill.

But in either case, if the Senate ultimately passes the appropriations bill with the new deadline, the House would have to reconvene lawmakers for a vote. The Senate bill cannot be delivered directly to President Trump's desk, meaning that if the Senate finally acts, Speaker Mike Johnson could have to recall House members back to Washington for the first time in weeks.

Thune said he is optimistic about ending the government shutdown this week

John Thune, the majority leader in the US Senate, said he was "optimistic" a deal could be reached this week to end the shutdown because of progress in grassroots talks between the two parties.

Thune told reporters that the goal is to bring a revised stopgap spending bill to the House of Representatives for a vote by the end of the week to restart government entities.

"Obviously there was a lot of discussion over the weekend and hopefully this will lead to the desired outcome," Mr. Thune said.

The Senate is expected to extend the November 21 expiration date of the House-passed temporary appropriations bill by at least a few weeks. Mr. Thune had told POLITICO that the deadline would need to be extended until at least January, but had not yet explicitly endorsed a timeline. Republican leaders are discussing setting a new deadline between late January and March.

"It would be better to set aside a longer buffer period," he said.

"Based on my gut feeling about how these kinds of events work, I think we're close to the exit," Mr. Thune said. "But again, in terms of the way Democrats have reacted,This government shutdown is unlike anything seen before。”

Little has changed in Mr. Thune's hint of what Republicans are willing to offer Democrats in exchange for the remaining votes they need to reopen the government. The conditions Republicans are proposing are still about procedures, not the health care Democrats are demanding, so it is unclear whether they will be enough to secure the votes needed to move forward.

Bipartisan consultations shed light, and differences remain on procedural medical issues

Bipartisan groups of rank-and-file senators have been discussing how to package a short-term funding package that would reopen the government, move forward with a full-year funding bill and give Democrats the right to vote on expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies.

Senators involved in the talks believe progress is being made. Although Senator Thune expressed his personal concern aboutOptimism that a way out of the government shutdown is imminentHe admits that he has not yet feltBe confident。

Republicans are hoping more Democrats will show a willingness to end the shutdown after Tuesday's off-year elections, which include the closely watched races for governor in New Jersey and Virginia.

Democrats say it is not the election that is shaping their decisions, but the real difficulties for Americans - including this month's expected delay in the delivery of federal food aid.

Senator Dick Durbin (D-Illinois) told reporters on Monday that he also sensed a growing consensus among his colleagues to develop an exit strategy, but admitted that the exact plan was not yet certain. Democrats have insisted on restarting negotiations on health care and have made it clear that they will reject the proposal for a simple vote if a bipartisan agreement cannot be reached.