Senate Democrats are divided over whether Republicans have offered enough to reach a deal to end the government shutdown this week.

Several centrist Democrats are signaling to their Republican colleagues that an agreement could be reached in the next few days.

But other Senate Democrats warn that reopening the government without a real concession from President Trump on extending the expiring health insurance premium subsidies — or at least a stronger gesture of good faith from the president — would be a big mistake.

Democrats are getting closer with Republicans on an agreement to put the regular appropriations process back on track, a strong Democratic priority, but the two sides haven’t made much progress on rising health care costs, the biggest sticking point.

Senate Republican negotiators said Monday that the talks could be on the cusp of reaching a deal, but some centrist Democrats warn that Trump’s failure to show serious interest in the health care issue is raising a red flag.

“I do believe we are finally making progress. It’s too soon to declare that this nightmare of a shutdown is over but I’m very cautiously hopeful that it will be resolved by the end of this week,” Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) told reporters as she left the Capitol Monday evening.

“There’s more specificity in what’s being sought and in addition I get the impression that for some Democrats waiting until after [Tuesday’s] election is an issue,” she said.

She said Democrats are facing “the reality of people losing food stamps toward the middle of the month and of women with infants not being able to get money from the WIC program and low-income individuals losing access to vital heating assistance.”

Collins said she wants the Senate to advance a new stopgap spending bill, known as a continuing resolution (CR), that would fund the government through Dec. 19, an acknowledgement that the end-date of the House-passed CR, Nov. 21, is now........

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