Senators are bracing themselves for yet another government shutdown, just hours after concluding a 43-day freeze.
The belief in Congress is that outstanding bills will lead to another shutdown as early as January next year. Representatives say certain amendments to proposed bills will make "the whole thing fall apart" and lead to a stall in government once more. Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) told Politico that certain demands would see a complete rejection of the bill from the Democrats.
He said, "If they want to add poison pills, obviously the whole thing will fall apart." It comes as Politico suggested that "any partisan demands" could "deadlock the effort" to pass the remaining nine bills. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise has since said they need to "find a resolution" to get the government back in motion.
Scalise said, "We’ve got to just find a resolution to get the lights back on. But the real negotiation is going to be: Can we get an agreement on how to properly fund the government with individual appropriations bills, packages of appropriations bills?"
Trump's approval rating during the government shutdown has slumped, with pollster Nate Silver suggesting one issue is a decisive factor in this decline. RealClearPolling recorded a -8.9% drop in approval, while the Newsweek Tracker shows a 43% approval rating, down from 44% this time last month.
Silverwrote, "It seems very likely that threatening SNAP benefits was the primary cause of the big downshift in Trump's approval ratings beginning ~3 weeks ago."
Silver would also suggest Democrats had "more leverage" on the government shutdown than they first thought. He added, "You'd think that downturn, plus the elections last Tuesday, would give Democrats considerably more leverage on the shutdown. But instead, they elected to punt."
The "huge blunder" may also be a reason for recent Democrat victories in the New York mayoral election and governor races in Virginia and New Jersey. Silver suggested the fears of benefits cuts, ongoing healthcare concerns and SNAP benefits were issues that are "real enough to contribute to Democrats absolutely crushing Republicans."