Senate in bid to end US shutdown
• Senators compromise but deadlock will only be lifted once House of Representatives approves measures keeping government funded
The US Senate reached a deal on Monday to reopen the federal government, with Democrats accepting a compromise spending bill to end days of partisan bickering that forced hundreds of thousands of government employees to stay at home without pay.
The impasse, the first of its kind since 2013, cast a huge shadow over the first anniversary on Saturday of President Donald Trump’s inauguration.
The Senate was poised to pass the compromise, but the shutdown will only end formally once the House of Representatives approves the measure keeping the government funded until February 8 — which it is expected to do.
As the Senate convened for the day, the chamber’s top Democrat Chuck Schumer announced that members of his party would vote with ruling Republicans to end the shutdown on day three, after a weekend of frustrating talks on Capitol Hill.
“After several discussions, offers, counteroffers, the Republican leader and I have come to an arrangement,” Schumer said on the Senate floor, referring to majority leader Mitch McConnell. “We will vote today to reopen the government.”
But he warned McConnell that he expected Republicans to make good on a pledge to deal with Democrat concerns over the Deferred Action on Child Arrivals (Daca) programme that shields immigrants brought to the country as children from deportation, but which expires on March 5.
The fates of an estimated 700,000 “Dreamers”, as they are called, are up in the air.
“If he does not, of course, and I expect he will, he will have breached the trust of not only the Democratic senators but members of his own party as well,” Schumer said.
Hopes that the shutdown, which began at midnight on Friday, could be limited to the weekend were raised when a bipartisan group huddled for hours on Sunday trying to end the standoff, but they ultimately failed to reach a deal.
Then as Monday began, Trump goaded Democrats from the sidelines, accusing them of shutting down the government to win concessions on immigration, in service of “their far-left base. They don’t want to do it but are powerless,” he tweeted, referring to Schumer and other Democratic leaders.
But Schumer said on the Senate floor it was time to get back to work, and lashed out at Trump: “The great deal-making president sat on the sidelines.”
The bill needed 60 votes to advance in the 100-member Senate, meaning Republicans — who have a one-seat majority — could not maneuvre on their own. At the weekend, Trump encouraged the Senate’s Republican leaders to invoke the “nuclear option” — a procedural maneuvre 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 Democrats hold a majority.
There have been four government shutdowns since 1990. In the last one, more than 800,000 government workers were put on temporary leave.
Earlier on Monday, hundreds of thousands of federal workers woke up with the US government still shut down.
Essential federal services and military activity were continuing at the weekend, but even active-duty troops will not be paid until a final deal is formally sealed in the House.
Markets remained calm on Monday morning as world stocks and US bond markets largely shrugged off Washington’s standoff even as the dollar continued its pullback. US stock futures edged lower.
Up until Monday, most federal workers were not directly affected by the shutdown that began at midnight on Friday.
Many still awaited notification on being “essential” employees or not. Even late on Sunday, the federal office of personnel management had provided little guidance. Its website said “federal government operations vary by agency”.
The department of interior led by secretary Ryan Zinke, offered no guidance on its website, which still only had a “Happy Holidays from the Zinke Family” video near the top of the site. This is the department that oversees national parks and federal lands.
The state department website said: “At this time, scheduled passport and visa services in the US and at our posts overseas will continue during the lapse in appropriations as the situation permits.” /
TRUMP ACCUSED DEMOCRATS OF SHUTTING DOWN THE GOVERNMENT TO WIN CONCESSIONS ON IMMIGRATION