Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) has presented Democrats with a fresh unity test two weeks into the government shutdown , daring them to oppose a bill to fund the Pentagon and other full-year spending measures that enjoy bipartisan support.

On Thursday, Republicans will hold a procedural vote on War Department funding, forcing Democrats to decide between the optics of blocking pay for more than a million troops and sticking to their guns on their demand for healthcare concessions.

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Separately, Thune has teed up a measure that would allow the Senate to

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