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McConnell says lawmakers eyeing short-term spending bill

House Republican leaders said they would push ahead with a vote on a short-term spending bill that would fund the government through February 16, but they did not schedule the vote and it was not clear they would have enough support to pass it.

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“Senator Stabenow, we know you are a fighter”, Eggleston said.

For months, the Republican-controlled Congress has been struggling to reach an agreement to fund the government, which is now operating on its third continuing resolution since the 2018 fiscal year began on October 1.

On Tuesday, Trump blamed Democrats in Twitter postings.

Republicans and Democrats both want to lift spending caps, which limit the amount of money the government can spend without adding to the deficit.

In another tweet Sunday, Trump said he wants people coming to the country “based on merit”.

Lawmakers have until midnight Friday to broker some kind of agreement to fund the government.

At least some Democrats say they will not vote for any bill that doesn’t also include a fix for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, the Obama-era program that protects undocumented immigrants who were brought to the U.S.as children, from being deported. A dispute over how much to allocate to defense and domestic programs also has been an obstacle to a broader fiscal agreement.

“They talk about DACA, but they don’t want to help”.

The Interior Department says that if there is a government shutdown, national parks and other public lands will remain as accessible as possible.

Hoyer’s remarks echoed those of many Democrats, who said they are unlikely to support any measure without a deal on DACA, which has been thrown into question by the president’s vulgar remarks last week about immigrants from African countries.

The statement didn’t address the fact that it was Trump himself who appeared to be holding CHIP hostage just hours earlier.

Given Democratic opposition and “no” votes expected from a few Republican senators as well, it was unclear on Thursday if Congress could head off a weekend shutdown of the federal government, which is operating on its third temporary funding extension since the 2018 fiscal year began on October 1. We’ll see what happens.

House leadership is in a bind right now because, about two days before a government shutdown, they still don’t have the votes to pass this government funding bill.

Tuesday night was a bit of a roller coaster for House GOP leaders.

GOP Rep. Bradley Byrne of Alabama said he was “struggling” with his vote. “We are in Congress and, regrettably, Congress is an institution that only acts when it’s forced to”. “But if it comes down to a determinant vote to shut down the government, I’m not going to do it”.

“Republicans looking out for US citizens, taxpayers and troops in danger”, Freedom Caucus member Rep. Scott DesJarlais wrote on Twitter. But he said he doubts there will ultimately be a shutdown.

“I’m also hopeful that we can get away from continuing resolutions and get back to regular order”.

But, according to a new Hart Research Associates poll, which was commissioned by far-left organization MoveOn.org, most Americans (42 percent) would blame the president and Congressional Republicans for a government shutdown. “I think you have a lot of sticking points, but they’re all Democrat sticking points”.

Republican Senator John Cornyn quickly corrected Trump in a counter-tweet: “The current house Continuing Resolution package has a six-year extension of CHIP, not a 30-day extension”. The proposal, presented by Sens. The Trump administration recently ended temporary protected status for tens of thousands of immigrants with long ties to the US from El Salvador, Haiti, Sudan and Nicaragua. Trump has denied using those exact words, which were confirmed by three people briefed on the exchange.

“I’m looking for something that President Trump supports, and he has not yet indicated what measure he is willing to sign”, he said. “There shouldn’t be because if there is our military gets hurt very badly”.

Congress returns to work on Tuesday. “Things will be added to it”, said Republican Sen.

But other Democrats downplayed the level of opposition to the short-term spending bill, with many saying they had not made up their minds.

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In December, seven of the 10 Democrats running in states that Trump won in 2016 voted in favor of the funding bill.

Shutdown will rest on the GOP