Paul pitched a “clean” one-to-two week stop-gap measure to give the parties time to iron out their differences while keeping the government afloat. He has suggested bicameral negotiations to find a middle-ground between the demands of conservatives to defund Obamacare and Democratic insistence that they wouldn’t touch the law. And he’s now making a new pitch: Coffee.

In a letter to all senators sent Wednesday afternoon, Paul called for a bipartisan coffee meeting on the Capitol steps Thursday morning to “alleviate this tension and partisanship.”

“Tension is at an all-time high here at the Capitol,” Paul said in the letter, which was provided to POLITICO. “We are all anxious about the shutdown and had to send the bulk of our staff home — worried about their future. … Maybe by chatting over coffee together, we can just talk and see if we can get along.”