Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) on Thursday voted against the Senate adjourning for the weekend as the monthlong government shutdown inches toward another week.
With the Senate adjourned, she called it “business as usual.”
“This is a missed opportunity to stay in town and hammer out an agreement,” Murkowski said in a post on the social media site X. “I asked to be recorded as a ‘no’ on the motion to adjourn. We shouldn’t be going home. Just ask the air traffic controllers at [Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport].”
After senators held their last vote for the week, several raced out of Capital Hill to return to their respective homes. But some, including Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.C.), found their flights were delayed due to the lack of air traffic controllers because of the shutdown.
The Federal Aviation Administration issued a ground delay at National Airport due to “staffing” issues. The ground delay was lifted, though departures were delayed 90 minutes.
While the standoff continues, Thune told reporters on Wednesday that moderate Democrats are looking for an “off-ramp” to end the shutdown. Thune offered concessions, including extensions to the Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies set to expire at the end of 2025, and hopes to discuss with Democrats further.
“What I’ve told them all along is as soon as they’re ready to open up the government that we will ensure that they have a process whereby they can have their chance to get their legislation voted on, their policies voted on,” Thune said. “They’ve become more interested, and I hope that continues.”
Murkowski also said more bipartisan discussions with the goal of ending the shutdown have been underway this week. The ongoing nature of the shutdown “doesn’t reflect well on anybody.”
“There have been enough of these pieces that have been talked through that if somebody can just diagram out how it all comes together and present, yes, I do think it’s possible” to end the shutdown next week, she said to reporters Thursday.
One month into the shutdown, 45 percent of Americans point the blame for it at Republican lawmakers and President Trump, according to a new Washington Post-ABC poll released Thursday. Democrats received 33 percent of the blame, while 22 percent said they were not sure.
