Thune says he is open to extending House government funding deadline beyond Nov 21

Senate Majority Leader John Thune on Tuesday indicated that he is open to working with the House to extend the government funding deadline in its continuing resolution beyond Nov. 21 as his chamber struggles to pass the same bill.

The Senate has failed eight times to invoke cloture or pass the Republican continuing resolution, which the lower chamber passed last month. Senate Republicans need eight Democrats to vote with them in order to move the legislation forward because it needs 60 votes to pass. 

Thune told reporters at the Capitol that moving the Nov. 21 date is "certainly something I've expressed an openness about." 

"We're probably going to need more time to get appropriations going," Thune admitted, per CBS News. "Every day that we lose here, every day they keep the government shut down, is the day we don't spend time actually doing a regular appropriations process. We keep losing time on the clock, which could be used to do the normal appropriations process." 

Thune did not indicate what the new funding deadline could be.

If the Senate passes a continuing resolution that changes the Nov. 21 date, then the legislation will have to go back to the lower chamber for approval. Senate Republicans are currently trying to avoid sending the funding bill back to the House.

The Senate is expected to vote on the continuing resolution next on Wednesday afternoon.

Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.