LEILA FADEL, HOST:
Democratic wins and elections across the country on Tuesday have emboldened many to hold firm. That's despite earlier indications that they were searching for a way out as Americans felt the intense pains of furloughs, travel delays and unpaid SNAP benefits.
A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
NPR congressional reporter Sam Gringlas is here. So - all right, Sam. Let's start with the view from the White House. And he met with Senate Republicans for breakfast yesterday. What was his message? What did he say to them?
SAM GRINGLAS, BYLINE: The president told Senate Republicans there was a lot to discuss, including what the party should do about their losses on election night.
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PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: And also about the shutdown and how that relates to last night. I think if you read the pollsters, the shutdown was a big factor, negative for the Republicans.
GRINGLAS: Trump has been urging Republicans to end the shutdown by eliminating the Senate filibuster. That would lower the votes needed to pass bills. Congressional Republicans, you know, have mostly gone along with Trump's wishes, but Senator Mike Rounds of South Dakota says getting rid of the filibuster is just not going to happen.
MIKE ROUNDS: The Senate was designed to really be a place where consensus is brought about, making decisions that could stand the test of time. Simply going to make the Senate a mini version of the House is not what any of us really want to do.
GRINGLAS: And there's another reason Republicans are hesitant to ditch the filibuster. They want to keep it in case they end up in the minority.
MARTÍNEZ: All right. So if most Republicans, then, are saying no to President Trump's desire to bust the filibuster, are we seeing a different solution emerge?
GRINGLAS: So both sides have been pretty dug in here. But this week, some bipartisan talks did seem to pick up steam - possibly a short-term funding measure into December, along with votes on a small package of regular appropriations bills. Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff of Georgia has been involved in those talks, and I asked whether he'd accept anything short of a deal to preserve expiring Obamacare subsidies. That's an issue that's been at the heart of this shutdown debate.
JON OSSOFF: Conversations are ongoing. It's good that people are talking. There's real urgency to prevent this huge spike in health care costs and to reopen the government.
GRINGLAS: Republicans would need eight Democrats to sign on to a deal to reopen the government, and Republicans have said that would become more doable as the shutdown pain got worse.
MARTÍNEZ: So how do the election results affect all that?
GRINGLAS: Well, there has always been a camp of Democrats who say any deal has to include an ironclad extension of those Obamacare subsidies. And many of them think their performance on Tuesday validates that position. Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders says he needs not just a Senate vote on extending the subsidies, but also assurance that the measure would pass in the House and that Trump would sign it into law.
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BERNIE SANDERS: If you simply had a nebulous vote that wasn't going to go anyplace, I think we got to continue to fight.
GRINGLAS: On Tuesday, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer was kind of vague about what he could live with. On Wednesday, he made it sound like his caucus was not going to relent.
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CHUCK SCHUMER: The election results were not vague. They were not unclear. They were a lightning bolt.
MARTÍNEZ: So, Sam, where does this leave things?
GRINGLAS: Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries are calling for a meeting with Trump. On Air Force One on Sunday, I asked Trump whether he was interested in negotiating with Democrats, but he reiterated that they were the ones who needed to back down. The question is, will Tuesday change that calculus, or will this shutdown stretch into a sixth week?
MARTÍNEZ: That's NPR congressional reporter Sam Gringlas. Thanks, Sam.
GRINGLAS: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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