Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell joined Trump in attacking Democrats.
Advertisement
A senior Republican aide told CNN Monday that McConnell wasn’t planning to provide any firmer commitment on immigration than he already has.
Senator Senator Christopher Coons (D-DE) speaks to reporters after the Senate reached an agreement to end the shut down of the federal government on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., January 22, 2018.
But as the government shutdown begins its third day Monday, there’s little evidence that Congress will be able to bridge the stark divide that has made the issue unsolvable for years.
At 12:01 a.m. on Saturday the federal government shut down after the Senate blocked a short-term spending bill.
Congress has approved a bipartisan agreement to re-open the federal government after a three-day partial shutdown.
During a government shutdown, military service members and government employees are furloughed and paid retroactively when normal operations of the government are resumed.
The House was then expected to pass the measure and send it to President Trump for his signature, laying the groundwork for the government to reopen by Monday evening.
Democrats climbed onboard after two days of negotiations that ended with new reassurances from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell that the Senate would consider immigration proposals in the coming weeks.
Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn of Texas said he thought Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of NY agreed to push back the vote to give his caucus “a chance to chew” on a GOP proposal to break the impasse.
“So long as the government remains open, it would be my intention to take up legislation here in the Senate that would address DACA, border security and related issues as well as disaster relief, defense funding, health care and other important matters”, the Kentucky Republican said on the Senate floor.
He said he was now a “yes” on the funding bill and it was his hope that six or seven more moderate Democrats would come on board to get the continuing resolution over the finish line – to 60 votes – to end the shutdown.
Democrats have pinned the blame on Trump and the GOP for the shutdown, saying the president is an unreliable negotiator and will not work with them. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., Cory Booker, D-N.J., Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y.
This time around, Democrats want any short-term spending legislation to include protections for young undocumented immigrants known as “Dreamers”.
By Monday morning, McConnell described his plan a bit differently, saying “I hope and intend” to resolve those issues by February 8.
But in a signal to Democrats, McConnell committed on the Senate floor to addressing immigration in timely fashion.
The government has been running on a series of short-term budget bills since October 1 because Congress has been unable to agree on a year-long spending package.
“I can tell you that would be the end of the Senate as it was originally devised and created going back to our Founding Fathers”, Durbin said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week”.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, said that state funding would pay for the reopening Monday of the Statue of Liberty, the inspirational landmark that was among facilities affected by the shutdown.
Thousands of federal employees who had been placed on temporary, unpaid leave since Saturday breathed a sigh of relief.
Republicans have appeared increasingly confident that Democrats were bearing the brunt of criticism for the shutdown and that they would ultimately buckle.
White House budget director Mick Mulvaney said Trump had instructed him to ease the effects of the shutdown as much as possible. “Not good”, the Republican president said on Twitter.
Democratic and independent senators who relented in the standoff said they trusted the bipartisan group of negotiators, including Sens.
Another 16 percent said they don’t know or don’t have an opinion.
Absent a breakthrough, the vote Monday will prove to be a test of unity and resolve among Democrats.
The pragmatist was balancing the demands of a liberal base eager for a fight with the president and the political realities of red-state senators anxious about their re-election prospects this fall.
In fact, Trump, who regularly disrupted negotiations in recent weeks, had been a relatively subdued player in the weekend debate.
“Unfortunately, the president and Republican leaders in Congress are like Abbott and Costello”, Schumer said.
“It’s an unrelated issue”, Young said of the DACA discussions.
Advertisement
Senate leaders have reached an agreement to reopen the government.
