The bipartisan authors of sweeping Russia sanctions legislation are hoping the Senate is finally ready to consider their bill after President Donald Trump hit Moscow’s energy sector with penalties this week.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), a close Trump ally and coauthor of legislation taking aim at Russian oil and gas revenue, said Congress “should continue the pressure.” He said the Senate could schedule a “Russia week” where it takes up several bills related to Moscow’s war against Ukraine.

Graham and Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) have been pressing for months for a vote on their measure to implement steep tariffs on countries that import Russian energy and secondary sanctions on foreign companies that aid in its energy production.

“We have the ability to create a sanction regime that would be beyond legal challenge,” Graham told reporters, explaining why congressional action would be prudent beyond Trump’s unilateral moves. He added that “Trump would be the quarterback.”

Majority Leader John Thune said last week he was ready to advance the long-stalled sanctions package, predicting last week the bill will be brought up within a month. But he struck a more cautious note Thursday.

“As you know, I’ve been interested for some time in getting the sanctions bill up on the floor,” he said. “We’re trying to do … that in concert and coordination with the White House to make sure that we’re giving them the best possible opportunity to succeed in getting Russia to the table.”

Separately, Sen. Jim Risch (R-Idaho), chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, called a potential vote on sanctions “a work in progress” Thursday.

Thune and Graham have worked with the White House to smooth over technical issues in the bill, but progress halted last week after Trump spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin last week and announced plans for a summit meeting in Hungary.

Those plans have since collapsed, prompting the Treasury Department to sanction Russia’s two largest oil companies Wednesday. Now advocates for a tougher line against Putin want the Senate to follow up with the Graham-Blumenthal bill, which has more than 80 cosponsors.

“I think it establishes a trajectory for passing our sanctions bill, and there’s no excuse for delay,” Blumenthal said.

Asked if Trump supports the sanctions bill, Thune said as a “general matter, yes,” but added there were things the White House wants incorporated and that “we’re in conversation with them.”

Graham and Blumenthal floated the possibility that other bills could come to the floor, including measures allowing frozen Russian assets to be repurposed for Ukraine’s use and designating Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism. Thune said discussions are underway about votes on those bills.

Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, meanwhile, said off the floor Thursday that the Senate should advance “a strong, tough sanctions bill.”

Calen Razor contributed to this report.

As Republicans formulate a plan to potentially extend key health insurance subsidies that are at the center of the government shutdown fight, House Energy and Commerce Chair Brett Guthrie warned in an interview Tuesday that any extension would “absolutely” need to include a crackdown on so-called “phantom” Obamacare enrollees.

The move is sure to spark a clash with Democrats, who successfully challenged similar provisions from Guthrie’s committees when they were included in the GOP megabill that passed over the summer. But now Republicans have more leverage as Democrats push for the continuation of tax credits that are set to expire Dec. 31.

“If there’s going to be an extension of those tax credits, the program integrity stuff … absolutely needs to be in place,” Guthrie said.

He was referencing a suite of Republican policies that would put new curbs on reenrollment for the enhanced insurance subsidies that are at the core of Democrats’ shutdown demands. Republicans and influential conservative health lobbyists complain the status quo leads to waste, fraud and abuse.

“Once you sign up, you’re on it forever,” Guthrie said.

Democrats argue those complaints aren’t grounded in reality, and the GOP push could set off a larger fight over how Americans enrolled in the program. Many Democrats, especially progressives, are worried about adding new barriers to access coverage, which they argue would disproportionately hit low-income Americans.

When Republicans tried to insert new curbs in their party-line megabill, Senate Democrats successfully challenged the provisions with the chamber’s parliamentarian.

Now House and Senate GOP leaders are making a big push for a crackdown on auto-enrollment as they ramp up talks among themselves and with White House officials about a possible subsidy extension and other conservative health care policy initiatives.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune in particular frequently references phantom enrollment as one problem Republicans want to tackle. At least some Democrats are open to negotiating on the topic, and there have been quiet, informal conversations in the Senate about that piece specifically.

“I understand what their issue is,” Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) said in an interview Thursday. “And if they would work with us and have a real negotiation on how we fix the premiums, I think that is something that we could address.”

Kelly confirmed he’s talked to “several” Republican colleagues about the policy, adding, “I think they have some points.” The other “other side” of the argument, he said, is that “folks that don’t have a lot of means, when you put barriers in front of them, they tend to drop their health insurance.”

Robert King contributed to this report.

Speaker Mike Johnson said he won’t bring the House back to vote to pay air traffic controllers and other essential employees, saying the measure “would be spiked in the Senate” anyway — and besides, “it would take the pressure off [Senate Minority Leader] Chuck Schumer to get his job done and open the government again.”

Johnson made the comments Thursday at a press conference with Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, who noted that the government shutdown is leaving already overworked air traffic controllers without pay, many of them forced to pick up second jobs to pay the bills.

“Next Tuesday is the first paycheck that they will not receive,” Duffy said of the air traffic controllers, warning that more flights would be canceled or delayed if that is necessary to keep the skies safe as the shutdown drags on.

Senate Commerce Chair Ted Cruz (R-Texas) has introduced a bill that would fund air traffic controllers. But Johnson, pressed by reporters about passing such a standalone bill in the House, noted that House Republicans have already approved a “clean” stopgap funding bill a month ago — which includes funding for air traffic controllers and TSA agents’ salaries. And, the speaker argued, even if he brought the House back to pay essential federal workers, Senate Democrats would block it.

“So it would be a waste of our time,” Johnson added.

A spokesperson for Schumer did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Trump administration officials at the White House and the Transportation Department have been exploring ways to shift funding within the executive branch to pay air traffic controllers, but it’s a huge feat and would cost more than $500 million per month to pull off.

“I don’t know where we’re going to get it,” House Transportation Chair Sam Graves (R-Mo.) said in an interview. “It’s going to be really tough to find it.”

Johnson said White House officials “are running out of creative ideas, and there is not an existing pot of money that could cover the air traffic controller’s salaries right now. And so that is why we have to get the government reopened.”

Safety could become an issue as the shutdown stretches longer, Graves said.

“It’s not right now, but that’s a good question. I mean, it could eventually become one — a safety issue. If air traffic controllers don’t get paid, then they’re going to be frustrated because they have obligations as well,” Graves said. “This just needs to end. That’s just all there is to it.”

More than 100 Republican lawmakers are expected to sign on to a letter pushing back on the Trump administration’s move to eliminate a popular, bipartisan community development finance fund that helps small businesses and home buyers access capital in areas of the country underserved by big banks.

The congressional Republicans are pressing the Trump administration to reverse its decision to fire all employees at the Treasury Department’s Community Development Financial Institutions Fund, according to the draft letter. The letter is expected to be sent to the administration Thursday.

The bicameral letter, led by Rep. Young Kim (R-Calif.), a member of the House Financial Services Committee, and Sen. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), who chairs the Senate’s Community Development Finance Caucus, is addressed to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Office of Management Director Russ Vought. The letter “strongly urge[s] the Administration to continue carrying out the statutory obligations of the CDFI Fund that are essential to ensuring private investments reach our states and districts.”

The large wave of GOP lawmakers that signed the letter signals widespread support among congressional Republicans for a program that the Trump administration has attempted to eviscerate.

The list of signatories obtained by POLITICO includes 27 Senators and 74 House members. The letter was signed by key Republicans, including Sens. Tim Scott (R-S.C), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Susan Collins (R-Maine), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) and Reps. Bill Huizenga (R-Mich.), Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) Mike Flood (R-Neb.), and Andrew Garbarino (R-N.Y.), among others.

The CDFI Fund awards federal dollars to CDFIs, which are community banks, credit unions and other financial institutions, that lend and provide other types of capital as part of a public-private partnership designed for communities traditionally underserved by the banking industry.

The shutdown is going into next week — at least. And senators are getting restless.

There’s little hope of movement anytime soon, with President Donald Trump leaving Washington Friday for a trip to Asia for at least several days.

“Everybody knows Mike Johnson is not going to take a single step without Donald Trump’s permission,” Hawaii Sen. Brian Schatz, a senior appropriator and the Senate’s next Democratic whip, told POLITICO. “He has to get involved.”

But after weeks of daily votes on the House-passed continuing resolution, Republican leaders are starting to mix it up a bit. On Thursday, they’re hoping to split Democrats by holding a vote on a bill from Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) to pay troops and some federal workers on the floor. That’s not expected to get enough Democratic support to pass.

Senate Republicans are looking to keep the pressure on next week. Senate Majority Leader John Thune took the step Wednesday to make two other bills available for a vote: another troop pay bill from Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) and a bill to pay TSA employees and air traffic controllers from Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas).

They’re also discussing voting on a bill from Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) that would fund Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits for the duration of the shutdown.

Meanwhile, talk of a new CR is heating up as Nov. 21, the expiration date for the House-passed stopgap, draws closer. Some Republicans are eyeing a punt though January or March. Other conservatives are pushing for a CR through December of next year, a plan that’s not likely to fly with appropriators.

“I’d like to get it done this year and not push it into next year,” said Sen. John Boozman (R-Ark.), who oversees Military Construction-VA spending. “Although there’s good arguments for doing that, we don’t have a whole lot of time left.”

While there’s little hope of an immediate path out of the shutdown, the mood appears to be lightening, at least. Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Gary Peters (D-Mich.) are hosting a bipartisan lunch Thursday, and Sens. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) and Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) — who are part of the informal group trying to find an off-ramp — said they are planning to attend.

“There is a little bit of a better spirit. Something must be happening,” Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) told POLITICO about the vibe among senators Wednesday night.

What else we’re watching:   

— Russia sanctions: The top Democrat on a bipartisan effort to punish Russia for the war in Ukraine praised new sanctions issued by the Trump administration Wednesday — but thinks they don’t go far enough. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) said the secondary sanctions legislation he is spearheading with Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) — which Trump has been reluctant to green-light — is still necessary. Their bill would impose sanctions on countries lawmakers say are “fueling the Russian oil machine,” like China, India, Brazil and Hungary.

Jordain Carney and Calen Razor contributed to this report.

Sen. Jeff Merkley yielded the Senate floor after more than 22 hours Wednesday, capping off an overnight protest against the Trump administration.

The Oregon Democrat began speaking at 6:21 p.m. Tuesday, warning that he was doing so to “ring the alarm bells about authoritarian control” and that the country was facing its “most perilous moment” since the Civil War.

He stood down at 5 p.m on Wednesday, vowing to “keep fighting.”

“We all have taken oath to the constitution,” he added, urging Americans to work together to “ring the alarm bells. … The next election is absolutely critical.”

The speech surpassed his previous record of holding the Senate floor for more than 15 hours during the first Trump administration. It also surpassed the marathon speech delivered by fellow Oregonian Wayne Morse in 1953 and is now the fourth longest in the chamber’s history.

Democrats have been under pressure from their base to show that they are not treating the second administration as business as usual — even if some of those steps are largely symbolic. Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) set a new record for delivering the longest floor speech in history earlier this year.

Merkley, the top Democrat on the Senate Budget Committee and a senior appropriator, yielded to several Democratic senators for questions over the course of his remarks, including Booker, Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Minority Whip Dick Durbin. The questions allowed Merkley to take a break from speaking, but he was required to stay standing the entire time in order to maintain control of the chamber proceedings.

“This is a moral moment in America,” Booker said when he joined Merkley on the floor, adding that the Oregon Democrat was showing that “democracy is not a spectator sport.”

During his marathon floor speech, Merkley spoke at length about Trump’s decision to deploy the National Guard to Portland and the ongoing legal fight around it. Trump’s use of the military has sparked unease from some corners of the Senate Republican Conference, but most GOP lawmakers have backed up Trump’s actions.

Merkley and colleagues who joined him in the Senate chamber also talked about Trump’s attempts to pressure the Justice Department to go after his perceived political enemies, his tariff policies and soon-to-expire Affordable Care Act subsidies.

Merkley’s actions come more than 20 days into the government shutdown with no end in sight. Republicans criticized Merkley for keeping Senate staff and Capitol Police working overnight when they are not getting paid because of the funding lapse.

“The Democrats are going to make Capitol Police and Capitol support staff – who they refuse to pay – work all night so they can give speeches patting themselves on the back for shutting down the government and hurting the American people. How ridiculous is that?” Sen. John Barrasso, the No. 2 Senate Republican, posted on X.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune met with a group of GOP senators on Wednesday as Republicans quietly discuss possible paths forward on health care once the government reopens.

The group met to talk about ideas including what to do about soon-to-expire Affordable Care Act subsidies — the centerpiece of Democrats’ demands amid the three-week shutdown — according to three people granted anonymity to describe the meeting.

Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) and Sens. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) and Rick Scott (R-Fla.) were among the senators who gathered in Thune’s office.

Barrasso, asked if they talked about the ACA, said they talked about “a lot of different things.”

“We just continue to meet and talk about the path forward,” Barrasso said, while reiterating the GOP’s firm stance that nothing will be negotiated until Democrats agree to reopen the government.

Still, Republicans have been discussing internally what their party’s position should be, including on the subsidies that will expire at the end of the year. The group in Thune’s office represents an array of viewpoints across the conference.

Some Republicans, such as Scott, have pushed for letting them expire. Others, including Thune, have kept the door open to extending them so long as new curbs are implemented. Those could include income limits, fraud-prevention language and other potential changes to try to shore up GOP support.

Republicans are also discussing attaching other health care proposals to try to sweeten the pot for conservatives. In addition to the conversations among GOP senators, talks have ramped up within the House Republican conference and with the White House.

Republican congressional leaders are making plans for a new spending punt as the shutdown drags on, and any new version is likely to postpone the next deadline until 2026.

House and Senate GOP leaders are debating a wide range of options for a new continuing resolution to fund the government, given that their current preferred vehicle funds the government only through Nov. 21. The most likely option would run into mid to late January, according to three people granted anonymity to describe the private conversations.

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise confirmed Wednesday that a longer stopgap is under consideration, but he insisted it wouldn’t jam lawmakers up against a holiday deadline. His comments come after GOP hard-liners warned privately that they will not accept a December deadline, preferring April or later.

“Democrats love the Christmas Eve, you know, omnibus bad deal. We’re not going to do that,” Scalise told reporters Wednesday.

President Donald Trump will have to muscle any reworked CR through Congress, and his sign-off will be key. While hard-liners want a longer horizon, appropriators who are trying to craft new full-year spending bills want a shorter deadline. Speaker Mike Johnson has criticized stopgap bills in the past, at one point saying he was presiding over his last CR, only to pass several more since.

Rep. Beth Van Duyne (R-Texas), who was critical of leadership messaging on the shutdown on a Tuesday GOP conference call, said in an interview Wednesday she is wary of voting for any additional continuing resolutions.

“As far as the CR, I was reticent to vote for it to begin with, because I don’t like the spending limits that have been set up by Democrats — I have voted against those spending limits,” Van Duyne said. “So I don’t think that the Democrats, who are voting against this, understand the gift that they were handed.”

Asked about a revised bill with a longer deadline, she said, “I can’t tell you how I’m going to vote on legislation I haven’t seen.”

House Ways and Means Chair Jason Smith (R-Mo.) in a Bloomberg interview Wednesday floated a stopgap into December 2026, an unusually long measure that would extend past the start of the next fiscal year — and the midterm elections.

GOP appropriators are certain to balk at a punt of that length and are floating their own, shorter timelines. Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins (R-Maine) said in an interview earlier this week she would be wary of going much past the end of this year.