OAN Staff Katherine Mosack
12:57 PM – Saturday, November 8, 2025
Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters that the United States Senate will remain in session until a deal is struck to reopen the government as it reaches day 39.
The upper chamber of Congress was scheduled to be out of Washington, D.C., around Veterans Day for recess, but Thune (R-S.D.) said that they will instead be in session over the weekend. The Senate has convened for a Saturday session to work out the gridlock — a rare occurrence.
“Are you going to stay until the government is reopened?” a reporter asked.
“Yeah,” Thune answered.
The House has already approved a funding bill that would have kept the government open through late November. Still, Democrats in the Senate have voted against the bill 14 times, holding out for an extension of Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies that are set to expire at the end of the year.
On Friday, Democrats proposed a one-year extension of the healthcare subsidies enhanced during former President Joe Biden’s tenure, alongside a three-bill package of full-year spending bills known as a “minibus.” Republicans rejected the extension offer after an overnight discussion with a bipartisan group of lawmakers, with Thune calling it a “nonstarter.” Thune’s priority is to discuss the minibus and vote on it sometime this weekend.
“The question is whether we can have everything ready to go, and I’ve been talking all morning with some of the folks that are involved with the mini and I think we’re getting close to having it ready,” the GOP leader said on Saturday. “We just need to get the text out there. But, you know … it’d be great to set it up so we could vote today, but we’ve got to have the votes to actually pass it. So, we’ll see how the day goes, and as people have an opportunity to firm up their views when the text is out there, then I think we’ll know with better certainty.”
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