At the close of its second week, the government shutdown drags on with no sign of a deal between Democrats and Republicans

The United States continues to be unable to forsee the end of the government shutdown, after senators left Washington D.C. this Thursday without being able to reach an agreement that would put an end to it, thus guaranteeing that the shutdown will extend into the following week, with no sign of reopening in the face of the impasse in which both parties are stuck.

Overnight Thursday, the Senate concluded its work for the week after passing the upper chamber's version of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which included more than a dozen votes on different amendments. Lawmakers will not return to work until Tuesday, as Monday will be a federal holiday in the country, meaning the government shutdown will reach two weeks and the chances multiply that military service members will not receive their first paycheck.

Democrats again block resolution proposed by Republicans

In the morning hours, Democrats in the Senate blocked for the seventh time the "clean" resolution (CR) proposed by the Republican counterpart, which would have served to fund the Government until the end of November. As they have for nearly two weeks, Independent Senator Angus King and Democrats Catherine Cortez Masto and John Fetterman decided to vote with the Republicans.

Republican Party senators have been insisting over the past few days that the "clean" resolution represents their only offer, asserting on numerous occasions that it made no sense for Democrats to continue blocking it, since they have backed it on numerous occasions over the past few years.

According to The Wall Street Journal, some senators from both parties have been exchanging ideas on health care funding in order to find a way out of the government shutdown as soon as possible, at a time when tensions are growing at the possibility that both members of the armed forces and public employees will continue to see their pocketbooks affected. As detailed by the media, informal talks between Democratic and Republican senators have revolved around temporarily extending the expanded subsidies of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), but with new limits aimed at reducing aid to families with higher incomes.

On this measure, Senate Republican Majority Whip John Barrasso told reporters that Republicans "are in talks about offering Democrats a vote on the ACA subsidies in exchange for passing a spending bill." Barrasso, however, asserted that the first step has to be for Democrats to vote to reopen the government.