With the government shutdown firmly in its fourth week and SNAP beneficiaries threatening cannibalism (see below), Senate Republicans and Democrats are working behind the scenes on a proposal to reopen the government next week - with centrist Democrats arguing behind the scenes that their party has successfully highlighted soaring healthcare costs. 

Democrats say the higher costs are now set in stone due to Republicans' refusal to negotiate a deal to extend Biden-era subsidies that are set to expire - in yet another example of anything that's supposed to be 'temporary' becoming a new goalpost (*cough gerrymandering cough*). 

"My assessment is that we've won anything that we can possibly win and the costs of continuing the shutdown are going to be felt by people who are going to food banks and federal employees," one Democratic senator told The Hill, who argued that any political benefit to extending the shutdown is about to be outweighed by the chaos that's about to be unleashed if SNAP benefits end for 42 million Americans.

Some Democratic senators are privately speculating that if their party does well in the gubernatorial elections in New Jersey and Virginia scheduled for Tuesday, they can declare a political victory and begin to finalize the endgame for reopening government.

Virginia, which will be a Senate battleground in 2026, is home to approximately 140,000 federal employees.