US govt remains shut
> Crunch vote delayed, immigration sticking point
WASHINGTON: Hundreds of thousands of US federal employees stayed home without pay yesterday after lawmakers failed to reach an agreement on ending a government shutdown.
Although leaders of President Donald Trump’s Republican Party and the opposition Democrats said progress had been made in a weekend of talks, they pushed back a vote scheduled for 1am yesterday (2pm in Malaysia) for another 11 hours.
After special weekend sessions of Congress which had seen bitter recriminations traded by both parties, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell pledged to address Democrat concerns over key issues such as immigration reform in a speech to the chamber late on Sunday.
The Senate’s top Democrat Chuck Schumer responded by saying he was “happy to continue my discussion with the majority leader about reopening the government” but added that the parties were “yet to reach an agreement on a path forward”.
McConnell then called for Congress to reconvene for another vote on a stopgap funding measure at noon, a proposal which was nodded through.
Hopes that the shutdown, which began at midnight Friday, could be limited to the weekend had been raised Sunday when a bipartisan group huddled for hours on trying to end the standoff, but they ultimately failed to resolve all their differences.
Earlier in the day, Trump encouraged the Senate’s Republican leaders to invoke the “nuclear option” – a procedural manoeuvre to change the chamber’s rules to allow passage of a budget by a simple majority of 51 votes to end the shutdown.
But Senate leaders have been wary of such a move in the past, as it could come back to haunt them the next time the other party holds a majority.
White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said Trump had spoken during the day with McConnell and Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn.
She did not mention Trump’s speaking with any Democrats but said White House director of legislative affairs Marc Short had been in touch with members of both parties and updated the president.
“We are continuing to work hard towards reopening the government.”
At the heart of the dispute is the issue of undocumented immigration.
Democrats have accused Republicans of poisoning chances of a deal and pandering to Trump’s populist base by refusing to back a programme protecting “Dreamers” – undocumented immigrants who arrived as children – from deportation.
Democrats have refused to go along with the temporary federal funding request unless it addresses the programme in part because they fear Republican leaders will not act to protect its recipients from deportation. – AFP