Senate Majority Leader John Thune said that he expects senators to continue talking over the weekend, after previously noting that there was an uptick in bipartisan talks this week.
“I think there will be, yeah, I’m sure they’re going to be discussions. We got members on both sides who are continuing to dialogue,” he said.
Asked if he had started speaking with rank-and-file Democrats after saying yesterday that he’d speak with them soon, Thune said, “I don’t have anything to report on that. But again, like I’ve said before, when they’re willing to produce
the votes to open up the government, we’re going to talk.”
Thune also expanded on the president’s message that he is willing to meet with Democrats after the shutdown ends to discuss health care subsidies, emphasizig that he cannot promise them a specific outcome from those conversations.
“Once the government’s open, I think, as you know, the president does like to negotiate, and I don’t know what, where that would lead, I can’t predict that — and that’s what I told the Democrats here, that I can’t guarantee an outcome or result,” he said. “What I can promise them is a process, and they would get their vote, and they can have their vote by a date certain, which I think is, you know, initially, this is what a lot of them were asking for.”
Democrats have insisted on an agreement to save the expiring enhanced health care subsidies, not the opportunity to vote on the issue.
Pressed on whether he thinks the shutdown could end in the next week or two, Thune told reporters, “I’m always optimistic. Aren’t you?”
