Shutdown to stretch at least until Thursday

Neither party shows signs of giving in on border wall money.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) announced Saturday afternoon that the Senate would shutter for legislative business until Thursday, leaving many federal agencies closed until later next week at the earliest.

“Listen, anything can happen,” McConnell said. “We’re pulling for an agreement that can get 60 votes in the Senate and a majority in the House.”

The decision came after President Trump had a lunch with conservative Republicans and dispatched Vice President Pence to the Capitol to make the latest offer to Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.). That meeting ended after 30 minutes with no resolution.

“Still talking,” Pence told reporters as he and acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney left Schumer’s office; the senator had said he would “remind” the vice president that Democrats would not sign off on funding for a border wall.

By shuttering the Senate for five days, lawmakers will go home for the holidays as hundreds of thousands of federal workers are left in limbo about their status.

The effects of the partial shutdown, which started just after midnight Saturday, will be felt more broadly Wednesday, the first day the federal workforce is expected to return.

The Capitol was quiet Saturday morning, after lawmakers went home Friday evening with Congress still at an impasse over Trump’s demands for billions of dollars to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Both the House and Senate opened at noon Saturday, but there were no signs of progress in negotiations, which had only been happening at the staff level since a brief huddle late Friday afternoon with Pence and Schumer.

Schumer and McConnell spoke on the floor Saturday, with both blaming the other party for the shutdown and neither showing any sign of giving in.

Before Pence and Schumer met Saturday afternoon, Schumer’s office sent out a preemptive statement beforehand saying he would “remind” Pence that Democrats would not sign off on any wall funding.

Few lawmakers were in the Capitol on Saturday, and no votes were scheduled in either chamber. Many lawmakers took off Friday night to return to their home states as they awaited word of the talks, having been assured that they will get 24 hours notice before any vote occurs to reopen the government.

The fundamental stalemate remains in place: Trump says he won’t accept legislation unless it contains about $5 billion in funding for his border wall, but Democrats have the votes to block any wall money Congress.

Trump sees this round of negotiations as his best, and possibly last, to exact wall funding from Congress, as Democrats are set to take over the House in January after big wins in the midterm elections.

The president wrote on Twitter on Saturday morning that “We are negotiating with the Democrats on desperately needed Border Security ... but it could be a long stay.”

Now, that gridlock is affecting large parts of the federal government. Funding for numerous agencies, including those that operate national parks, homeland security, law enforcement, tax collection and transportation, expired at midnight. Close to 400,000 federal workers are expected to be sitting at home without pay until a deal is reached, and numerous services will be halted in that time, with the effects broadening the longer the funding lapse lasts.

Dozens of national parks and monuments were closed Saturday. The Securities and Exchange Commission has posted a list of the services it will soon suspend, including the processing of certain business records. The Justice Department, Commerce Department and Internal Revenue Service are preparing to keep thousands of workers home without pay.

Employees at those agencies deemed essential will continue working without pay, including many Transportation Security Administration workers dealing with the influx of holiday travelers. After every previous shutdown, Congress has passed legislation to retroactively pay employees.

The rest of the government, including the military, is funded through September by separate legislation passed earlier this year.

Senior administration officials Saturday put the onus on Senate Democrats to put forth options that include $5 billion for Trump’s promised border wall, saying it was a must for any deal.

“The president came into office promising a wall along the southern border. We couldn’t just let there be no wall,” an official said on a briefing call with reporters. Under the terms of the call, the officials spoke on the condition of anonymity.

During Trump’s lunch at the White House on Saturday with conservative lawmakers, the shutdown and border security were discussed. No Democrats were at the meeting, nor were the Republican leaders of each chamber. Many of the conservatives present pushed Trump to continue fighting for money for his wall.

The participants included Sens. Mike Lee (R-Utah), Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) and Richard C. Shelby (R-Ala.), as well as Reps. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) and Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.).

The administration was represented by Pence, acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, senior adviser Jared Kushner and legislative affairs director Shahira Knight.

“I don’t think it’s imminent that we are going to reach a deal,” Sen. Richard C. Shelby (R-Ala.) told reporters upon returning from the lunch. He said the participants in the lunch — which included some staunch conservatives — offered “mixed” advice on whether to compromise or dig in for a long shutdown.

In the Senate, McConnell opened the chamber Saturday with a 10-minute address that had hints of optimism but stronger suggestions of a partisan standoff that could last well beyond Saturday. Pointing to his red seasonal sweater, McConnell said he “hopes that Christmas is not too far away” and declared that the solution is “really simple.”

There are just 51 Republicans in the Senate until January, and two of them — Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) and Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) are retiring and have signaled that they would oppose the border wall funding.

Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho), who had dropped in on the short pro forma session, reiterated that the House wasn’t able to move until the Senate did. Like Hoyer, he was prepared for a shutdown that lasted past Christmas, with members leaving town before the government was funded.

“I had a flight last night, I have one tonight, and I am going on the one tomorrow night,” said Simpson. “I thought we might actually get out on December 7. We had nine of the 12 appropriations bills ready to go.”