Senate prepares for 12th vote on funding bill as shutdown continues

President Trump on Tuesday called on Senate Democrats to “stop the madness” and vote to reopen the government.

The president’s remarks on the 21st day of the shutdown came over lunch with Senate Republicans in the White House’s remodeled Rose Garden patio.

“We will not be extorted on this crazy plot of theirs,” Mr. Trump said of Democrats.

The Senate has voted 11 times on the House-passed continuing resolution to fund the government at the prior fiscal year levels through Nov. 21.

The vast majority of Democratic senators have filibustered every vote.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, South Dakota Republican, told reporters after the lunch that the Senate will hold a 12th vote on the continuing resolution on Wednesday.

“We’re also going to vote on a Ron Johnson resolution that essentially would pay anybody who is currently working,” he said, referring to essential federal workers who are doing their jobs during the shutdown without pay.

Democrats are expected to filibuster that measure, too. Sen. Chris Van Hollen said he is drafting alternative legislation that also covers furloughed workers.

“Every employee should be paid,” the Maryland Democrat said. “No federal employee should be punished for a shutdown they had nothing to do with.”

Democrats are demanding negotiations on their health care and spending priorities as the price to reopen the government. Their top ask is an extension of their COVID-era expansion of Obamacare premium subsidies, which is set to expire this year.  

Mr. Trump did not mention the Obamacare subsidies or Democrats’ other demands. He did, however, call Democrats “obstructionists.”

A six-day Reuters/Ipsos poll that closed Monday found that 50% of respondents blame Republicans for the shutdown, compared to 43% who find Democrats at fault. But the survey also showed Mr. Trump’s approval rating of 42% was up 2 percentage points from earlier in the month.

Senate Democratic leader Charles E. Schumer of New York slammed Republicans for holding a “pep rally” at the White House instead of negotiating.

“Apparently Republicans don’t have the time of day to fix people’s health care, to lower costs, but there’s plenty of time for a photo op and [to] celebrate their pain,” he said.

Mr. Trump attacked Mr. Schumer directly in his remarks, calling him “a calculating political partisan” who is in “deep trouble” with his party’s base.

“Unfortunately, in a craven and pointless act of partisan spite, Chuck Schumer, who I have known for a long time, and the radical left Democrats are holding the entire federal government hostage to appease the extremists in their party,” he said.

Democrats are playing a “dangerous game” in keeping the government shutdown, Mr. Trump said, citing effects like flight delays from air traffic controllers calling out of work during the shutdown.

“Over 1 million federal workers right now, as you know, are going unpaid,” he said. “That’s the Democrats’ fault. And children, tourists [are] unable to visit the museums in Washington, D.C.”

Mr. Trump mused that he “should probably just open” the museums. The Smithsonian Institution, which receives over 60% of its funding from the federal government, used prior fiscal year funds to stay open for the early days of the shutdown but that money soon ran out.

The president also spoke about the effort led by White House Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought, whom he jokingly referred to as Darth Vader, to cut funding from Democratic priorities.

“They’re not going to get a lot of things back,” Mr. Trump said. “But many of the things that they wanted are things that we don’t want, things that are just so bad for our country, and we’re cutting those things out.”

Mr. Trump shouted out Senate GOP leaders in his remarks, praising each of them individually.

He said he has gotten to know Mr. Thune well over the past year after not having much of a relationship with him in his first term.

“You’re doing a fantastic job,” he said.

Mr. Thune, who gave brief remarks, likewise praised Mr. Trump and celebrated Republicans’ unity.

“We are going to keep voting to open up the government, and eventually, the Democrats, hopefully sooner or later, are going to come around,” he said.

Only one Republican senator, Rand Paul of Kentucky, has voted against the stopgap funding bill.

Mr. Trump, without directly naming Mr. Paul, referred to him as the one GOP senator missing from the Rose Garden lunch.

“He automatically votes no on everything. He thinks it’s good politics. It’s really not good politics,” Mr. Trump said.

The president said he would have “begrudgingly” let the senator come to the lunch, but Mr. Paul told reporters he wasn’t invited.

Mr. Paul posted on social media that he instead attended “a previously scheduled Liberty Caucus lunch” with Kentucky GOP Rep. Thomas Massie, whom the president has also attacked for voting against him.

Sen. Thom Tillis, North Carolina Republican, said he missed the lunch because he was at a funeral.

Republicans who did attend returned to the Capitol with Trump-signed hats and other gifts.