Some Democrats may be ready to cross party lines to end the ongoing government shutdown as pressure builds from federal workers and families affected by the standoff, Sen. John Hoeven told Newsmax on Saturday.
"I do think there are some practical Democrats, and I'm talking to them," the North Dakota Republican said on Newsmax's "Saturday Agenda."
"They're starting to think, 'OK, we've got to do something now.'
"That means they have to vote for that clean CR [continuing resolution] so we get the government open."
Hoeven, a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said Democrats are blocking measures that would fund the military and critical programs, while thousands of federal employees go without pay as Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., keeps the shutdown going.
"This is Day 25 of the shutdown," he said.
"It's way past time to get beyond this Schumer shutdown, whatever point they thought they were making."
Hoeven said the partial operations made possible by a $130 million private donation to troops, reportedly by billionaire GOP donor Timothy Mellon, were "remarkable," but "that's still only about $100 per member of our military."
He warned that key assistance programs — such as Women, Infants, and Children, known as WIC, and SNAP — will soon run out of funding.
The senator also described the growing toll on farmers, ranchers, and small businesses across the country.
"Whether it's law enforcement, Border Patrol, our great military, TSA [the Transportation Security Administration], everybody in the Department of Transportation, our farmers and ranchers, small businesses — they're all out there working, and they're being adversely impacted by this," Hoeven said.
He pointed out that Democrats have previously voted for continuing resolutions to keep the government running, but are now blocking the same measure.
"They passed 13 of them with 100% of the Democrat votes," he said.
"Americans need to understand very clearly that it is Democrats who are shutting things down and creating this pain for people across the country."
On healthcare, Hoeven rejected Democrat claims that the GOP's refusal to extend certain subsidies is driving higher costs.
"They're saying that the inflation in healthcare is all because we're not extending this additional premium enhancement," he said.
"But the reality is Obamacare is creating that inflation in healthcare, and it's going to keep doing it," Hoeven added.
"You can't just keep throwing money at Obamacare and expect that medical inflation to be addressed. It's making it worse."
Republicans, meanwhile, are ready to work on reforms once the government reopens, but "healthcare reform is not continuing to throw trillions of dollars at a broken system," Hoeven said.
"It's coming up with reforms that work and work for the people so they have better access to healthcare, but you don't have this runaway healthcare inflation," he concluded.
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