Senate Republicans have largely coalesced around the end of January as their new government funding expiration date, according to four people with direct knowledge of the matter who were granted anonymity to share information about ongoing negotiations. Republicans are tentatively looking at a continuing resolution that would run until Jan. 30, which was a topic of discussion during a closed-door conference meeting Friday as members of both parties look for a path toward ending the government shutdown. Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) said that while Senate Republicans had mostly gelled around the date, there were still conflicting feelings within the conference and conversations would continue. The end date is longer than what appropriators had hoped for: They were pushing for a deadline in December to keep pressure on lawmakers to quickly reach a larger, full-year funding deal. But House and Senate GOP leaders have been privately pushing for more time and were viewed as most likely to settle on a January date. Notably, the Jan. 30 timeline is one of the better options for House GOP leaders at this point, given that some fiscal hard-liners, who want to keep government programs running at flat funding levels, are pushing for a stopgap into November of next year. Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins and fellow appropriators met Friday afternoon to discuss finalizing a package of three funding bills that could ride alongside a continuing resolution for remaining agencies. “Susan is gonna finish this off soon,” Sen. Jon Husted (R-Ohio) said. He added, though, that Democrats are “dragging their feet” to close out any agreement to reopen the government. Mullin accused Democrats of moving the goalposts in their funding talks, including in their offer Friday to vote on a three-bill “minibus” and a stopgap funding patch alongside a one-year extension of expiring Affordable Care Act tax credits. “It’s an absolute non-starter,” Mullin said of their demands. Lead Art: Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) speaks with reporters at the U.S. Capitol on the 30th day of a government shutdown, Oct. 30, 2025. (Francis Chung/POLITICO via AP Images) | AP

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It's no coincidence that democracy is backsliding in the US exactly eighty years after the end of World War II.