Trump-approved plan to avert government shutdown scuttled by Senate

Senate Republicans' bid to pass a short-term government funding extension was foiled by Senate Democrats as the deadline to fund the government fast approaches.

It also comes as lawmakers gear up to leave Washington, D.C., for a week to observe the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah. They're expected to return with just two working days left before the deadline to fund the government on Sept. 30.

The CR would have kept the government open until Nov. 21, and it included tens of millions for increased security for lawmakers and the judicial and executive branches.

Thune charged that if Democrats were "serious" about funding the government, they wouldn't have "put out the most partisan piece of legislation you possibly could."

"I mean, it's kind of mind-boggling," he said.

"We have two weeks. They should sit down and talk to us, and we maybe can get a good proposal," Schumer said. "Let's see. But when they don't talk to us, there's no hope of getting a good proposal. And that makes no sense."

"And again, when Donald Trump says don't negotiate with Democrats, because he doesn't know what the Senate is like, or he doesn't know how to count, because without Democrats, they're going to end up shutting down the government," he continued.

However, the demands Schumer and Democrats laid out in their counter are a bridge too far for Republicans.

Included in the bill were a permanent extension to COVID-19 pandemic-era Obamacare subsidies, which are set to expire at the end of the year, efforts to repeal the Medicaid cuts in Trump's "big, beautiful bill," and a clawback of canceled NPR and PBS funding.

Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso, R-Wyo., told Fox News Digital that the legislation was a "Trojan horse by the Democrats."

"It's to me, it's a preview of what they're going to want to do," he said.

"Schumer has to play to the far-left fringe that is actually running the Democrat Party right now," Barrasso continued.

Senate Democrats are adamant that the Obamacare credits, in particular, need to be dealt with now rather than near the deadline. Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., told Fox News Digital that lawmakers "have to do it now."

"All the [insurance rate] notices go out Oct. 1, so you have to have it now," Peters said.

However, Republicans argue that including an extension to the tax credits to a short-term extension isn't germane to the bill, especially one geared toward trying to give Congress time to fund the government with spending bills. And Thune has said that the credits would be "addressed" after a shutdown was averted.

But for now, the issue at hand still boils down to communication between Thune and Schumer.