US government shuts down after Senate fails to pass short-term spending bill
WASHINGTON (NYTIMES, WASHINGTON POST, AFP) - The United States government officially shut down on Saturday (Jan 20) after US Senate Democrats blocked passage of a month-long stopgap spending bill to keep the government funded past the midnight deadline.
Lawmakers are now scrambling for a quick deal to reopen the government quickly.
The White House said in a statement it will reopen negotiations on immigration reform “when Democrats start paying our armed forces and first responders”, and that it will not negotiate the status of immigrants who were given temporary legal status under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals ( DACA) started by former president Barack Obama “while Democrats hold our lawful citizens hostage over their reckless demands”.
In a dramatic late-night session, Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell left voting open despite appearing to fall well short of the 60 votes needed to keep alive a stopgap bill that would fund the government through Feb 16.
The failure of the motion means President Donald Trump entered the first anniversary of his inauguration Saturday at the head of an administration that is out of funds.
The 10 pm vote (11am, Jan 21, Singapore time) came after a day of budget brinkmanship in Washington that included a last-minute negotiating session between Trump and Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader. The 90-minute meeting produced progress, both men said, but no deal. Just hours later, it appeared to collapse.
No alternative bill had been filed or drafted, and the time necessary for the Senate to agree on and process a new bill, and then for House leaders to bring members back to the Capitol to vote on the measure, would likely take lawmakers past midnight.
Republicans are insisting on a four-week funding extension that includes a six-year authorisation for the Children's Health Insurance Program and delays several health-care taxes.
Democrats have called for a funding extension of 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."
Trump admitted on Friday that chances were “not looking good” that 11th-hour talks in Congress would break the impasse.
Less that two-and-a-half hours before the midnight deadline, Trump lashed out at Democrats.
“Not looking good for our great Military or Safety & Security on the very dangerous Southern Border,” he tweeted, citing some of the government projects and agencies that will find themselves unfunded.
“Dems want a Shutdown in order to help diminish the great success of the Tax Cuts, and what they are doing for our booming economy,” he alleged.
For most of Friday, most senators remained out of the loop and unsure of what to expect.
Senate Democrats were supposed to have met at 8.30pm, according to a Democratic aide. In the quiet hallways of the Capitol, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, a supporter of a days-long extension to allow further negotiations, was spotted entering Schumer's office.
Senate Minority Whip Richard Durbin, whose support for a fix for "dreamers" has been central to the impasse, suggested that the impending shutdown was far grimmer than the 2013 impasse sparked by disagreement over the Affordable Care Act.
"The last one was Ted Cruz reading from Dr. Seuss," Durbin said, recalling how the Texas Republican senator sparked the last shutdown with an overnight filibuster. "I don't think anybody has brought their Seuss books to this."
On the Senate floor, Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch let his frustration with the stalemate show in an unusually frank comment.
"This is the greatest country in the world, but we do have some really stupid people representing it from time to time," he said. "I probably have gone too far saying that, but it's true and it's disappointing to me."
Still, not all Senate Democrats opposed the one-month bill. Senators Joe Donnelly, Joe Manchin and Heidi Heitkamp, all of whom face tough paths to reelection in states that supported Trump in 2016, said they would vote to keep the government open.
"It's the most basic duty of Congress to keep our government running," Donnelly said in a floor speech.
Michigan Senators Gary Peters and Debbie Stabenow, meanwhile, announced they would both vote against the measure.
With time running out, one possible approach under discussion on Capitol Hill had been a two- or three-week extension of government funding, according to senior Republican aides.
Cornyn dismissed the notion as an "absurd idea."
Speaking to reporters, Office of Management and Budget director Mick Mulvaney predicted that the conflict has a "really good chance" of being resolved before government offices 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.
Trump and the Republicans, who control all levers of government, faced the possibility of a shutdown on the first anniversary of his inauguration.
According to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll, Americans by a 20-point margin blame Trump and the Republicans over Democrats if the government closes.
The Schumer-Trump meeting had set off alarms among congressional Republicans. Neither McConnell nor Ryan, who resolved on Friday morning to stand firm in their support of the House bill, attended the White House meeting.
Schumer returned to the Capitol and met with Durbin and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi for over an hour.
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 floor, 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.
Republican Senator Jeff Flake 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 affairs, said that the effort by Democrats to put an immigration fix in the bill was unreasonable, given that legislative text has not been drafted and the program doesn'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 unified 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 a way to blunt public anger, and while the military would not cease to operate, troops would not be paid unless Congress specifically authorizes it.
The last shutdown, in 2013, lasted for 16 days as Republicans tried unsuccessfully to force changes to the Affordable Care Act. On Jan. 30, Trump is scheduled to deliver his State of the Union address.
In a sign of the preparations on Capitol Hill, congressional staffers received formal notice on Friday morning that they may 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 delayed Trump's departure for his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. The president had intended to leave Washington late Friday afternoon ahead of a lavish celebration of his first year in office that is planned for Saturday night.
With the House scheduled to be out of session next week, several leaders have planned trips abroad.
Vice President Mike Pence will travel to Israel and Egypt, Ryan will visit Iraq, and House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy and House Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows will accompany Trump to the World Economic Forum in the Swiss resort village of Davos.
McCarthy spokesman Matt Sparks said the Davos trip would be cancelled in the event of a government shutdown, but that did not stop Pelosi from criticising the trip.
"Every year the Republicans plan the January schedule so that they can go to Davos. They want to spend next week hobnobbing with their elitist friends instead of honouring their responsibilities to the American people," she said.
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