'He's certainly not helping': Trump reportedly just threw wrench into shutdown negotiation

Support for a potential deal to reopen the government has fallen apart after Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) was unable to gain trust from Senate Democrats on a floor vote to extend Affordable Care Act subsidies.

Senate Democrats rejected an emerging proposal Thursday for a continuing resolution after they concluded over lunch that they couldn't trust President Donald Trump and House Republicans to extend the health insurance subsides or stop firing federal workers, and they don't trust Thune's commitment on bringing the subsidies onto the floor for a vote, reported The Hill and Politico.

“This is the old days of making sure you write it into black letter law," said Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, which has jurisdiction over the ACA tax credits. "That’s what we do when we write bills. We haven’t seen that yet."

Democrats argue the expiring tax credits will sock millions of Americans with skyrocketing premiums in 2026, and many Democrats are skeptical Republicans will follow through on the issue once an agreement is reached to reopen the government.

“I have obviously expressed my reservations about agreeing to only a vote without a certainty of outcome,” said Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT), who said Democratic election wins this week indicated voters want them to continue fighting for the subsidies. “I don’t think that we should proceed without knowing that these health care premiums are not going to go up by 200 percent.”

Democrats ended up rejecting a proposal spearheaded by centrists, including Sens. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) and Angus King (I-ME), who have been exchanging details of proposals with rank-and-filed Senate Republicans.

“You got a bunch of keys and you’re trying to find the right key to fit a lock," said a Democratic senator who attended the lunchtime meeting. "We just have to have another key."

Thune has scheduled a vote for Friday on a House-passed government funding measure with a promise to amend it with proposals from the compromise reached by the centrists, but that vote is expected to fail, and Democrats say the GOP majority leader can't assure them that Trump won't continue cutting the federal workforce, and they don't trust House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA).

“I trust John Thune but here’s a fact, it’s beyond his control if we … get an enforceable agreement because we have to get buy-in from the House of Representatives,” said Sen. Peter Welch (D-VT).

Swing-state Democrats who would be most likely to agree to a deal to reopen the government aren't willing to go forward because they don't trust the president, and many of them cite his social media activity during the shutdown, including AI-manipulated video showing top Democrats wearing mustaches and sombreros and Trump's threats to food assistance benefits.

“He’s certainly not helping,” Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA). “He’s the one who said several years ago that if you’re in a shutdown fight, it’s the president’s fault. It’s the president’s job to convene everybody and get to a reasonable solution and he’s doing the exact opposite. It’s who he is."