Disaster averted, only for now
After failing to reach a deal on a shortterm funding bill, the federal government shut down this past weekend and Monday.
Today, as a result of negotiations between Senate leadership from both parties, Congress approved another shortterm measure to keep the federal government working until Feb. 8.
Locally, the Government shutdown didn’t have a big impact, the most significant was the operations at the Naval Air Facility El Centro which didn’t return a call Monday but did leave a recorded voice message stating:
“Due to a lapse in federal funding, employees have been furloughed. I will not be able to monitor or respond to voice messages until the furlough has ended.”
On Monday, Democratic Senate leader Chuck Schumer agreed to the short-term deal with the assurance from majority leader Mitch McConnell that Congress will focus on finalizing a deal on immigration within the next three weeks.
Another failure to pass a full spending bill could trigger yet another shutdown in February that if it lasts longer, may have a local impact.
“(If) an agreement is not reached in February and a longer-term shutdown occurs some departments could be impacted,” said County Public Information Officer Linsey Dale. “Generally, federal funding to county departments work on reimbursements for completed projects to the local agency. If federal reimbursement payments are delayed, it impacts the county’s ability to operate effectively, especially when budgets are already tight.”
The public information officer for the County’s Public Health Department, Maria Peinado said although the department doesn’t get direct funding from the federal government, some of its programs could be affected
“If another federal shutdown occurs, it is possible that the department’s programs that are grant funded could be affected. The reimbursement process would be delayed, however, services would still continue to be offered locally,” she said.
How it began
The political roadblock to passing the full spending bill for 2018 started in September when President Donald Trump decided to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals — created by former President Barack Obama — a program that had protected nearly 700,000 undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children from deportation.
During his announcement, Trump gave Congress a six-month period to pass a legislative solution for those 700,000 immigrants. After failing to pass a full spending bill in the fall, Congress passed the first shortterm funding deal which expired last week.
Two weeks ago, it seemed the Senate was making headway in the issue. CNN reported at the time that a bipartisan group of half a dozen legislators worked on a deal for a permanent DACA fix, but the deal was rejected by Trump as he sought more stringent immigration requirements and the inclusion of funding for his proposed border wall.
If that bipartisan bill would have passed, $2.705 billion would have been appropriated in border security improvements, eliminate the visa lottery, make permanent the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program — including a pathway to citizenship for those who qualify — and limit family-based migration, of the individuals eligible for the program.
In a last-ditch effort to prevent a shutdown, Schumer met privately with Trump on Friday where, according to the New York Times, offered the president full funding for the wall in exchange for strong protections for DACA recipients, a proposal he also turned down. Although Schumer eventually reached a deal with McConnell for the short-term funding bill, in exchange to take up the immigration debate, not everyone in the Democratic Party was pleased with the result. Both California Senators Dianne Feinstein and Kamala Harris voted against the new funding bill to end the shutdown.
“I refuse to put the lives of nearly 700,000 young people in the hands of someone who has repeatedly gone back on his word,” Harris said.
Congress has until Feb. 8 to finalize an immigration fix along with the long-term funding bill or another short-term funding bill to avoid another shutdown.