The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Shutdown looming as Senate vote fails
Funding extension a potential short-term solution.
WASHINGTON — The federal government was barreling toward a shutdown Friday evening as a lastditch meeting between President Donald Trump and the Senate’s top Democrat produced no resolution and Trump redoubled his support for the Republican plan.
Facing a midnight deadline, the Senate failed to get the 60 votes needed to advance a bill in a vote after 10 p.m. It was uncertain if anything would happen in the remaining 90 minutes or so before deadline, virtually assuring a government shutdown today.
Earlier in the day, Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said he and Trump made “some progress” in a private meeting about keeping the government open but did not strike a final deal.
“We still have a good number of disagreements,” Schumer told reporters at the Capitol upon returning from the White House. “The discussions will continue.”
Opposition to the bill among Senate Democrats appeared to be hardening as Friday evening began. Michigan Sens. Gary
Peters and Debbie Stabenow, who is up for re-election in a state that voted for Trump, both announced that they would vote against it. Sen. HeidiHeit kamp, D-N.D., who faces an even tougher path to re-election in a red state, said she would support the bill.
On Twitter, Trump wrote that a four-week extension of government funding “would be best” and that leaders were “making progress.”
“Excellent preliminary meeting in Oval with @SenSchumer - working on solutions for Security and our great Military together with@ Senate Maj L dr( Mitch) McConnell and @SpeakerRyan,” wrote Trump, who spoke toHouse Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., on the phone late Friday afternoon.
With time running out, one possible approach under discussion on Capitol Hill would be a two- or threeweek extension of government funding, according to senior Republican aides. Several Republican senators had rejected the idea.
Speaking to reporters, Offiffice of Management and Budget director Mick Mulvaney predicted that the conflflict has a “really good chance” of being resolved before government offiffices open Monday, implying that the weekend would mitigate the impact of a shutdown.
“I think there’s a deal in the next 24 hours,” he said.
House members were advised to remain in Washington on Friday in case of “additional procedural votes.”
Republicans are insisting on a four-week funding extension that includes a six-year authorization for the Children’s Health Insurance Program and delays several health-care taxes. Democrats have called for a funding extension for several days that would allow more time for negotiations over the legal status of immigrants brought to the United States illegally as children, known as “dreamers.”
Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn, R-Texas, dismissed the notion of a days-long funding bill as “an absurd idea.” He said if Schumer met with Republican leaders to work on an agreement, there was a chance a shutdown could be avoided.
Not all Senate Democrats opposed the one- month bill. Indiana Sen. Joe Donnelly, who faces re-election in a state that supported Trump in 2016, announced his sup- port ina Senate flfloor speech.
“It’s the most basic duty of Congress to keep our government running,” he said.
Trump and the Republicans, who control all levers of government, faced the possibility of a shutdown on the fifirst anniversary of his inauguration. According to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll, Americans by a 20-point margin blame Trump and the GOP over Democrats if the government closes.
The Schumer-Trump meeting had set offff alarms among congressional Republicans. Neither Senate Majority Leader McConnell, R-Ky ., nor Ryan, who resolved Fridaymorning to stand fifirm in their support of the House bill, attended the White House meeting.
Schumer returned to the Capitol and met with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Minority Whip Richard Dur bin, D-Ill ., for over an hour.
Republicans on Capitol Hill said White House aides assured them that no private deal will be struck between Trump and Schumer.
As Senate Republicans remained short of the 60 votes needed to advance the bill to fund the government through Feb. 16, McConnell delivered a political salvo on the Senate flfloor, saying Democrats had been led into a “box canyon” by Schumer.
By late Thursday, at least nine Senate Democrats who had voted for a short-term spending bill in December said they would not support the latest proposed extension. They joined 30 other Democrats and a handful of Republicans in opposing the bill.
Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., said late Thursday that he was “not inclined” to vote for a short-term spending measure because leaders did not keep their promise to hold a vote by the end of January on legal protections for young undocumented immigrants. On Friday morning, he said he preferred Democrats’ proposal of a mini funding extension to allow more time for negotiations, an idea GOP leaders rejected Thursday. He was “still looking” at the House bill late Friday afternoon.
Marc Short, Trump’ s director of legislative a ff ff ff ff ff ff airs, said that the effffffffffffort by Democrats to put an immigration fi fix in the bill was unreasonable, given that legislative text has not been drafted and the programdoesn’t expire until March.
“There’s no DACA bill to vote on, and there’s no emergency on the timing,” Short said.
A government shutdown causing employee furloughs has never occurred under unifified party control of Congress and the White House.
The Trump administration is drawing up plans to keep national parks and monuments open despite a shutdown as away to blunt public anger, and while the military would not cease to operate, troops would not be paid unless Congress specififically authorizes it.
The last shutdown, in 2013, lasted for 16 days as Republicans tried unsuccessfully to force changes to the A ff ff ff ff ff ff or dab le Care Act. On Jan. 30, Trump is scheduled to deliver his State of the Union address.
In a sign of the preparation son Capitol Hill, congressional staff ff ff ff ff ff e rs received formal notice Friday morning that theymay be furloughed starting at midnight. Individual lawmakers will have to determine which aides have to report for work during the impasse.
As senators awaited news about possible votes, the White House prepared to delay Trump’s departure for his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida until after a shortterm spending bill is passed.