Government shutdown 2018: what we know so far

ozbournetri (50)in #trump • 7 years ago

A short-term bill to fund the government and avert a shutdown failed to get enough votes to overcome a filibuster Friday night, meaning the government will likely shut down just after midnight unless a long-shot, last-minute deal is reached.

The Senate failed to pass a short-term spending bill that the House passed on Thursday night. The House bill would have extended the shutdown deadline into February, but it failed to get enough votes in the Senate to overcome a filibuster — with both Democrats and Republicans voting in opposition.

Voting was still underway as of 11 pm Friday, but enough senators had voted against the spending bill to effectively kill it.

The Associated Press
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@AP
BREAKING: Enough senators have voted against a bill preventing government shutdown to block the measure, roll call still underway.
10:50 PM - Jan 19, 2018
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It’s worth noting that senators of both parties broke ranks with their respective caucuses on the bill. Five Democrats sided with the majority of Republicans to vote for the bill: Sens. Heidi Heitkamp (ND), Doug Jones (AL), Claire McCaskill (MO), Joe Manchin (WV), and Joe Donnelly (IN). Meanwhile, four Republicans broke ranks to cast “no” votes: Sens. Lindsey Graham (SC), Rand Paul (KY), Mike Lee (UT), and Jeff Flake (AZ).

Some senators attempted to strike last-minute deals to keep the government open for three weeks, but those negotiations ultimately failed as both Democrats and Republicans dug in.

The Senate was stuck in negotiations on Friday
With the clock ticking toward a midnight shutdown on Friday, Senate leaders on both sides of the aisle were holed up in last-minute negotiations. But details were scarce as to what might come out of them.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) went to the White House Friday afternoon, reportedly on President Trump’s invitation. When Schumer returned to Capitol Hill after the meeting, he didn’t have much to say to reporters.

“We had a long and detailed meeting; we discussed all of the major and outstanding issues,” Schumer told reporters outside Capitol Hill. “We made some progress, but we still have a good number of disagreements.”

ABC News
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@ABC
Sen. Chuck Schumer on meeting with Pres. Trump amid looming shutdown: "We made some progress, but we still have a good number of disagreements. The discussions will continue." http://abcn.ws/2EWj1fC
3:51 PM - Jan 19, 2018
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Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) was similarly tight-lipped as he left a meeting with Schumer and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi on Friday afternoon.

Durbin said there were “some positive aspects” of the talks, but added that it’s “too early to tell” whether the Senate can come to a compromise to avoid a government shutdown.

There are currently not enough votes in the Senate to keep the government open
A spending bill needs 60 votes in order to advance in the Senate, which means Republicans need Democratic votes to keep the government open. With Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) still out of the Senate for health reasons and an Alabama Senate seat recently flipping from red to blue, Republicans need at least nine Democratic votes to pass the spending bill.

But an impasse over immigration negotiations has pushed Democrats and Republicans to stand against this short-term spending deal. Enough Republican and Democratic senators are against the spending bill to shut down the government, NBC reported.

Democrats have offered to support a very short spending deal that would keep the government open for a couple of days into next week, the idea being that they can come up with an immigration deal in that time. Meanwhile, Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) went to the White House to talk with Trump one on one. House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell weren’t in on the meeting. Rumor has it the meeting wasn’t for any deal striking, but just to hear Schumer out, CNN’s Phil Mattingly reported.

Schumer has managed to strike a spending deal with Trump in the past, and conservative House Republicans are worried the president could move too far to the left on immigration and spending after meeting with Schumer.

Chuck Schumer
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@SenSchumer
I support an idea floated by my @SenateGOP colleagues: pass a clean CR for a few days to give us a hard, final deadline & keep both sides at the table. We’ll reach a deal that fully funds our military & the opioid fight, CHIP, vets, pensions, disaster aid & protects Dreamers.
11:01 PM - Jan 18, 2018
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But Democrats aren’t the only ones standing against this short-term spending bill. Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ), who voted no on the short-term CR Friday, said he agreed with Democrats on a shorter deadline extension.

“The Democrats have offered to go for a CR for a couple days to give us time to actually come together on these issues,” Flake said. “That’s the right approach. We won’t be any better on the 16th of February [than] we will be next week. So let’s move it for a couple days.”

Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Rand Paul (R-KY), and Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) also voted no. Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD), who initially said he would be against the CR, over concern for defense spending, said he struck a deal with the GOP that has won his support.

This means that not only can Republican leadership not count on Democratic votes to keep the government open, they can’t even count on the votes from their own rank-and-file members at this point.

Democrats were more serious about shutting down the government this time
Each time a short-term spending bill has come up, more Democrats have voted against it. For instance, just eight Democratic senators voted against a CR on December 7. That number increased the next time it came up for a vote on December 22, when a total of 29 Democratic senators, plus Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), voted against it.

In late December, 17 Democratic senators voted to pass the spending bill. By Friday evening, the majority of Democrats voted “no” on the CR.

The Democrats who voted yes are all from red states, and most of them are facing difficult midterms later this year. Sens. Joe Manchin (D-WV), Joe Donnelly (D-IN), Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND), Claire McCaskill (D-MO), and newly minted Sen. Doug Jones (D-AL) all voted to pass the CR, along with the majority of Republicans.

One notable exception among red-state Democrats: Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT). Tester published a lengthy statement on Thursday explaining why he could not vote for another short-term spending bill.

The House averted disaster on its spending bill on Thursday
House Republicans were on the verge of disaster on Thursday. Leadership wanted to pass a short-term spending bill with a six-year extension of the Children’s Health Insurance Program attached, but the archconservative House Freedom Caucus was withholding its support. With its 40 or so members, the Freedom Caucus had enough votes to block the bill, which was relying on Republican votes to pass. House Democrats have held a nearly unified front against all spending bills that haven’t included an immigration deal.

After an intervention from President Donald Trump and a meeting with House Speaker Paul Ryan, the Freedom Caucus reached an agreement that was enough to win over enough of the conservative cohort to avert a shutdown: GOP leadership agreed to hold a separate vote on defense funding in the coming days and to whip votes on a more conservative immigration bill, one considered to be a nonstarter in the Senate.

Pushing a conservative immigration bill could throw a wrench in immigration negotiations in the Senate. Freedom Caucus Chair Mark Meadows (R-NC) told reporters Friday that the president has promised him he wouldn’t support any immigration bill that Meadows and his hardline immigration hawk counterpart in the Senate, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR), don’t support.

That doesn’t bode well for actually getting something done on DACA. It’s increasingly clear that Cotton and Meadows aren’t interested in compromising with Democrats, whose votes are needed on an immigration bill.

Ultimately, whatever deal the Senate comes to will have to get through the House, which is far from certain.

Why are senators saying they’ll vote “no” on a short-term spending bill?
Senators have varying reasons for refusing to pass a spending bill, but the biggest is the lack of a deal on DACA. Back in the fall, President Trump announced he would end the program and punt it to Congress to fix. He also set a March deadline to fix DACA before recipients would lose their protected status — but though he has waffled, he has made statements supportive of a DACA fix, leaving many to wonder what, exactly, the holdup is.

A group of senators including Durbin, Bob Menendez (D-NJ), Graham, and Flake have been working on a bipartisan DACA deal and trying to get votes for it in Congress. Even as their proposal gains steam in the Senate, conservative House Republicans don’t like the deal.

Now that House Republicans proposing yet another short-term spending bill with no immigration solution attached, Democrats and Republicans alike in the Senate are getting fed up.

Many Democratic senators are also frustrated with a lack of action on other issues, including the Children’s Health Insurance Program (also known as CHIP) and funding for community health centers. Others are just frustrated that there is no long-term spending deal after months of negotiations.