Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has seized on the plan that Republicans floated – and then discarded – to soften the government shutdown's sting for some federal workers and aid beneficiaries.

Why it matters: Schumer's (D-N.Y.) strategy had been to withhold votes across the board while Democrats fought for Affordable Care Act subsidies. Now he's pushing a partial reopening of government, without those ACA subsidies as part of the equation. • It's an attempt to make Republicans own more of the acute and escalating pain of the government shutdown. • "Democrats will introduce a clean, standalone bill today to ... keep SNAP benefits flowing," Schumer said on the Senate floor.

Zoom in: Schumer and top Democrats see Senate Majority Leader John Thune's (R-S.D.) decision not to pursue a

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