WATCH LIVE: The Senate is expected to vote for the 10th time on government funding

WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Democrats are preparing for the 10th time Thursday to reject a stopgap spending bill that would reopen the government, insisting they will not back down from Congress’ demands for health care benefits.

Watch the Senate in the player above.

The repeated votes on the funding bill became a daily drumbeat in Congress, underscoring how difficult the situation was because it was sometimes the only item on the Senate’s agenda. House Republicans have completely left Washington. The standoff has continued for more than two weeks, furloughing hundreds of thousands of federal workers, even more without a guaranteed payday and essentially paralyzing Congress.

“Every day that goes by, there are more and more Americans taking smaller and smaller paychecks,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune said, adding that there are thousands of flight delays across the country as well.

He watches: Federal workers describe how the shutdown changed their jobs and daily lives

Thune, a Republican from South Dakota, has repeatedly tried to pressure Democrats to abandon their strategy of voting against the stopgap funding bill. It didn’t work. While some bipartisan talks have been ongoing about potential compromises on health care, they have not resulted in any tangible progress toward reopening the government.

Democrats say they won’t budge until they get a guarantee on extending subsidies for health plans offered under the Affordable Care Act’s marketplaces. They warned that millions of Americans who buy their own health insurance — such as small business owners, farmers and contractors — will see significant increases when premium prices fall in the coming weeks. Given the November 1 deadline in most states, they believe voters will demand that Republicans enter into serious negotiations.

“We have to do something, and now Republicans are letting these tax breaks expire,” Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said.

However, Thune was also trying to take a different tack on Thursday by voting to move forward on appropriations bills — a move that could set the wheels of the Senate in motion or just deepen the divide between the two parties.

Deadline for health plan support

Democrats rallied around their health care priorities while holding out against voting for a Republican bill that would reopen the government. However, they also warn that the time to reach an agreement to prevent spikes in many health plans is short.

When they took control of Congress during the pandemic, Democrats boosted support for health plans under the Affordable Care Act. It pushed enrollment under President Barack Obama’s health care law to new levels and pushed the rate of uninsured people to a historic low. Nearly 24 million people currently get their health insurance from subsidized marketplaces, according to the health care research nonprofit KFF.

Democrats — and some Republicans — worry that many of these people will give up insurance if the price rises too high. While the tax credits don’t expire until next year, health insurance companies will soon send out rate increase notices. In most states, they come out on November 1st.

Sen. Patty Murray, the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, said she had heard from “families who are absolutely panicking about their insurance premiums doubling.”

“They are small business owners who have to consider giving up a job they love to get employer-sponsored health care somewhere else or just giving up coverage altogether,” she added.

Murray also said that if many people decide to leave their health plans, it could have an impact on medical insurance because the pool of people under health plans will shrink. This could lead to higher prices across the board, she said.

Some Republicans have acknowledged that expiring tax breaks could be a problem and have floated potential concessions to address it, but there is hardly consensus among the GOP.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Los Angeles, this week called the coronavirus-era subsidies “useless,” adding that “when you subsidize the health care system and pay insurance companies more, prices go up.”

President Donald Trump has said he “would like to see a deal for great health care,” but has not commented meaningfully on that debate. Thune insisted that Democrats first vote on reopening the government before entering any negotiations on health care.

If Congress engages in negotiations over significant health care changes, it will likely take weeks, if not longer, to reach a compromise.

Vote on draft appropriations bills

Meanwhile, Senate Republicans are preparing to vote Thursday to advance a bill to fund the Department of Defense and several other areas of government. That would shift the Senate to Thune’s priority in working through spending bills and potentially pave the way for paying troops, though the House would eventually need to return to Washington to vote on a final bill negotiated between the two chambers.

Thune said it would be a step toward getting “government funding the traditional way, through the annual appropriations process.”

It was not clear whether Democrats would provide the support needed to advance the bills. They discussed the idea at a luncheon on Wednesday and came out saying they wanted to review the Republican proposal and make sure it includes appropriations that are priorities for them.

While the votes will not bring the Senate any closer to an immediate solution to the government shutdown, they can at least turn their attention to issues where there is some bipartisan agreement.