Possible Democratic 2020 presidential candidates in the Senate – Elizabeth Warren, Kirsten Gillibrand, Cory Booker, Bernie Sanders and Kamala Harris – all voted against Monday’s bill.
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By noon, just before the first vote to end debate on the spending bill, the moderate Democrats were predicting passage. The bill now heads to President Trump’s desk.
The Democrats had reached an agreement with the Republicans to have a debate on immigration in order to end the federal government shutdown which lasted for three days.
The Senate vote was 81-18 – well above the 60 votes needed. The hashtag #TrumpShutdown began trending, because it’s all US President #Donald Trump and his stupid border wall plan’s fault. Democrats have been pushing a bipartisan compromise that would create a pathway to citizenship for those immigrants, known as “DREAMers”.
Monday’s action starts the clock ticking on the next shutdown, which could happen February 8 if no deal is reached on immigration and several other issues.
He added: “The Republican majority now has 17 days to prevent the Dreamers from being deported” referring to the 700,000 young immigrants brought to the USA under the scheme. “We’re not going to reopen negotiations on illegal immigration until they reopen the government and give you, our soldiers and your families, the benefits and wages you’ve earned”, Pence said.
“That basically sets the DACA discussion back”, he told reporters.
A senior Republican aide told CNN Monday that McConnell wasn’t planning to provide any firmer commitment on immigration than he already has. Gary Peters, D-Mich.
Republican Mitch McConnell, the senate majority leader, put forward the proposal Sunday night, seeking a vote ahead of the the 1:00am vote he had called for earlier. “There is a good faith belief that this is an issue we need to address and we should address it in a bipartisan way”.
“I am pleased that Democrats in Congress have come to their senses”, Trump said in a statement.
Senate rules impose a threshold of 60 votes to break a filibuster, and Senate Republicans now hold a slim majority of 51 votes, meaning even if they can unite their members, they need nine more votes to end debate.
Democrats have yielded and ended their delaying tactics against a bill financing federal agencies through February 8. It will also extend the low-income children’s health insurance program, CHIP, for six years and suspend some taxes under the Affordable Care Act.
With the government reopened, it doesn’t look like Trump is any more amenable to an agreement.
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For the last three days, thousands of federal employees were forced into a leave of absence without pay, after the government was shut-down for three days.
