Thune suggests Senate could remain in DC in effort to end record-long government shutdown

Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Friday he is considering keeping the upper chamber open this weekend to continue to try to reach a compromise with Democrats to end the record-long federal government shutdown.

The GOP-controlled Senate is expected to vote again on its temporary spending measure to reopen the government, but its expected to fail because it doesn't have enough votes from Democrats.

Thune told Politico in a brief interview that he would "probably" keep senators in Washington, D.C., this weekend and appeared skeptical that he would get another Democrat to jump ship in the next vote.

Democrats having won big in Tuesday's elections appear to be interpreting the results as proof their strategy – that Republicans agree to extending health care subsides to taxpayers before they agree to end the shutdown – is working. 

“I think the Democrats who are ready to get this over with, coming out of their luncheon yesterday were singing a different tune, so we’ll see,” Thune said. “At some point they’ve just got to make a decision whether or not they want to keep this going or want to end it.”

The government shutdown began last month after the upper chamber failed to pass the House's spending resolution, which passed in September. 

Several Democrats indicated Thursday that they would also continue to oppose ending the shutdown unless the Trump a admininstrtion rehires federal workers who were fired at the start of the shutdown.

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