Shutdown

NBC -    The Senate is back in session and is expected to hold more votes on the GOP funding bill and a Democratic alternative as the government enters the sixth day of shutdown.  Republicans need five more Democrats to advance their bill to reopen the government temporarily, but both parties are locked in a standoff they blame on each other.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has demanded negotiations as Democrats seek to extend Obamacare subsidies. The subsidies are set to expire at the end of the year, which would then result in major health insurance premium increases.

"We ought to be talking about the real issue here, which is that we have a health care crisis in America caused by the Republicans," Schumer said in an interview.

President Donald Trump is declining to take a clear position on whether to extend the subsidies. Senate Majority Leader John Thune said it's a discussion he's open to having, but only if Democrats relent and reopen the government first.

"That is a program, by the way, that is desperately in need of reform. You cannot just extend it, flat extend it. It is too flawed," he said. More about the shutdown showdown 

MSNBC -  Political scientists and polling experts have pointed out that in previous government shutdowns (or near shutdowns) the party that tries to leverage the government’s closure for a policy win typically loses the battle of public opinion. But recent polling data suggests that Democrats are, at least for now, looking unusually strong in their quest to force Republicans to make concessions on health care policy.

More specifically, Democrats are withholding votes for a government funding bill to try to force GOP lawmakers to agree to an extension of expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies and a repeal of the Medicaid cuts. (Their alternate bill also limits Trump’s ability to freeze or rescind congressionally appropriated funding, and restores money for public broadcasting.) Those are big, and some might even say, quixotic, demands. But so far, the anomalous political dynamics of Trump’s second term seems to have given Democrats an unusual advantage — and that could bode well for their fortunes in next year’s midterm elections.

A shutdown likely scans to the average person as more contiguous with the president's wants than his opposition's.

During past shutdowns or near-shutdowns, voters have typically blamed the party not in the White House — except for when Trump himself instigated a shutdown in late 2018. This time, the polls look different. A Washington Post poll conducted on Oct. 1, the first day of the shutdown, found that the Democrats were looking strikingly strong: 47% of U.S. adults blamed Trump and Republicans in Congress, while 30% blamed Democrats and 23% said they weren’t sure. Part of that margin was because the share of Democrats blaming Trump and Republicans (87%) was larger than that of Republicans blaming Democrats (67%). But political independents were also more than twice as likely to say Trump and Republicans were to blame for the shutdown than Democrats, 50% to 22%.