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Stopgap Bill to Avert Shutdown Punts Border Wall to Next Year Senate Passes Stopgap Spending Bill That Would Avert Shutdown
(about 2 hours later)
WASHINGTON — Moving to end a looming government shutdown, Congress is hoping to pass a stopgap spending bill this week that would keep the government funded through Feb. 8 — and would punt the impasse over a southern border wall to the new year and a divided Congress. WASHINGTON — Moving to head off a looming government shutdown, the Senate passed a stopgap spending bill on Wednesday night that would keep the government funded through Feb. 8 — and would punt the impasse over a southern border wall to the new year and a divided Congress.
Lawmakers and aides had thought the measure, first announced by Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky and the majority leader, could pass the Senate as soon as Wednesday before being taken up Thursday by the House and sent to President Trump before the midnight Friday deadline, when funding lapses for nine federal departments. Both Democratic leaders, Senator Chuck Schumer of New York and Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, said Democrats would support such a measure. The bill was expected to pass the House on Thursday and be sent to President Trump before the midnight Friday deadline, when funding would lapse for nine federal departments.
“I’m glad the leader thinks the government should not shut down over the president’s demand for a wall,” Mr. Schumer said on the Senate floor. “Shutting down the government before Christmas is a terrible idea — one of the worst to come down the pike in a very long time.” The measure poses an uncomfortable political problem for Mr. Trump among his far-right supporters, even though it remained unclear if the president, who has been a volatile factor throughout the spending debate, would sign such a measure without the $5 billion he has demanded for a border wall.
But it remained unclear if Mr. Trump, who has been a volatile factor throughout the spending debate, would sign such a measure without the $5 billion he has demanded for a wall at the border with Mexico. Vice President Mike Pence, leaving a luncheon on Wednesday with Senate Republicans, did not answer questions from reporters about whether the president would endorse a stopgap spending bill. Even without explicit indication from the White House about how the president would handle a bill that does not include funding for his beloved wall, conservatives were already condemning the president’s seeming capitulation on his signature campaign promise.
Mr. Trump has publicly embraced shutting down the government to force Democrats to capitulate on wall funding, but in the past two days, White House officials have signaled a softening of that position. Representative Mark Meadows, Republican of North Carolina and the chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, said Mr. Trump was doing himself “major” political damage by relenting in the wall fight.
“I don’t believe the leader would bring it up if he hadn’t had some assurance that the president would sign,” said Senator Richard C. Shelby, Republican of Alabama and the chairman of the Appropriations Committee. “But you never know.” “They’re very concerned that he’s not fulfilling his campaign promise,” Mr. Meadows said of voters, describing the hundreds of phone calls his office received on Wednesday protesting the president’s apparent retreat. “They believe it’s a promise that the president said he would keep.”
The bill would not only maintain funding for the departments and agencies covered by seven spending bills that have not passed, but it would extend a number of programs set to expire, including the Violence Against Women Act, the National Flood Insurance Program and critical Medicaid provisions. Mr. Shelby said a vote on the bill could be delayed by “holds” placed on the legislation by other lawmakers. There was considerable outcry from conservatives over a bill without wall funding: the political commentator Ann Coulter denounced a “gutless president,” the Fox News host Laura Ingraham lamented that the wall would now be “an open door with no frame,” and Representative Jim Jordan, Republican of Ohio, warned that the Republicans needed to keep their promise to build the wall.
As of Wednesday evening, one hold delaying a Senate vote came from a bipartisan coalition of Western senators, adamant for a vote on a lands package — a handful of bills that include the reauthorization of the Land and Water Conservation Fund and put in place protection for the gateway to Yellowstone National Park and the headwaters of the Yellowstone River. They argued that the package could be voted on separately or attached to the short-term spending bill. Other Republican lawmakers acknowledged that without wall funding included in the stopgap spending bill, they had lost their last foreseeable vehicle to secure funding for Mr. Trump’s signature campaign promise, and that they would hand Ms. Pelosi a triumph before the speaker’s election in January.
“Time to get it done,” said Senator Maria Cantwell, Democrat of Washington State and a sponsor of a bill that would permanently reauthorize the conservation fund. “The West wants to be heard.”
Senator Steve Daines, Republican of Montana, even took over presiding over the Senate for a period of time on Wednesday so a colleague could read the bills, said Julia Doyle, a spokeswoman for the senator.
“There’s trouble in paradise,” said Senator Richard J. Durbin, Democrat of Illinois. “Meanwhile, as the hours go by, the plane reservations disappear.”
Asked if there would be a vote on the bill on Wednesday, Mr. McConnell told reporters, “We’ll let you know.”
[How a partial shutdown would affect the government and its citizens.]
Avoiding a partial government shutdown was a welcome prospect for lawmakers, particularly given the holiday timing and the number of lawmakers who await retirement at the end of the session or have quietly left after their November defeats. But even though a path to funding had been made clear for the first time in days, few were satisfied.
Not only would Republicans lose their last foreseeable vehicle to secure funding for Mr. Trump’s signature campaign promise, but they would hand Ms. Pelosi a triumph before the speaker’s election in January.
“I never believed we had a chance to go forward,” said Senator John Kennedy, Republican of Louisiana. “I was never as sanguine as some about the possibility that Mrs. Pelosi would risk her speakership to fund President Trump’s wall.”“I never believed we had a chance to go forward,” said Senator John Kennedy, Republican of Louisiana. “I was never as sanguine as some about the possibility that Mrs. Pelosi would risk her speakership to fund President Trump’s wall.”
“It’s been clear to me,” he added, “that at least on this issue, Mrs. Pelosi has been running the show.”“It’s been clear to me,” he added, “that at least on this issue, Mrs. Pelosi has been running the show.”
Some House Republicans on Wednesday night warned that they would continue to lobby for a vote on wall funding. Republican lawmakers have struggled to find a compromise between Mr. Trump’s demands and Democratic opposition to spending money on a concrete wall at the border, a final dose of dysfunction in the waning moments of a Republican majority in Washington.
“It’s time to deliver,” Representative Mark Meadows, Republican of North Carolina and the chairman of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, wrote on Twitter. “No more excuses. We’re ready to fight.” “I’m sorry that my Democratic colleagues couldn’t put the partisanship aside and show the same good-faith flexibility that the president has shown in order to provide the resources our nation needs to secure the integrity of our borders as well as the safety of American families,” Mr. McConnell said Wednesday morning on the Senate floor.
Some House Democrats were frustrated that they would again have to confront the funding issue only two months into their majority, instead of focusing on a new agenda. Democrats, two weeks away from taking the House majority, have refused to budge from the offers they had laid out for the president, which included up to $1.6 billion for border security, but nothing for the border wall.
But by declaring he would “own a shutdown” in a contentious televised Oval Office meeting last week, Mr. Trump had deprived Republican lawmakers of their ability to pin responsibility for a shutdown on the Democrats. But in the past two days, White House officials have signaled a softening of that position, and Mr. Trump appeared to hedge his position in a series of tweets on Tuesday and Wednesday.
“I don’t believe the leader would bring it up if he hadn’t had some assurance that the president would sign,” said Senator Richard C. Shelby, Republican of Alabama and the chairman of the Appropriations Committee. “But you never know.”
The bill would not only maintain funding for the departments and agencies covered by seven spending bills that have not passed, but it would also extend a number of programs set to expire, including the Violence Against Women Act, the National Flood Insurance Program and critical Medicaid provisions.
Avoiding a partial government shutdown was a welcome prospect for lawmakers, particularly given the holiday timing and the number of lawmakers who await retirement at the end of the session or have quietly left after their November defeats. More than 70 members from both parties were missing from votes in the House on Wednesday night.
And even though a path to funding had been made clear for the first time in days and did not include billions of dollars in wall funding, Democrats were also dissatisfied with the likely outcome and the prospect of having to confront the funding issue again only two months into their majority.
In a statement, Representative Nita M. Lowey of New York, the incoming chairwoman of the House Appropriations Committee, condemned the Republican majority for having “chosen to kick the can down the road for a third time.” She vowed to pass spending legislation that does not fund the border wall.In a statement, Representative Nita M. Lowey of New York, the incoming chairwoman of the House Appropriations Committee, condemned the Republican majority for having “chosen to kick the can down the road for a third time.” She vowed to pass spending legislation that does not fund the border wall.
And the lawmakers and aides who had feverishly negotiated the details of the remaining bills voiced disappointment that their work would be shelved for now. And the lawmakers and aides who had feverishly negotiated the details of the remaining funding bills voiced disappointment that their work would be shelved for now.
“We ended up with the best of all worlds — a good compromise,” said Senator Patrick J. Leahy, Democrat of Vermont and the ranking member of the Appropriations Committee.“We ended up with the best of all worlds — a good compromise,” said Senator Patrick J. Leahy, Democrat of Vermont and the ranking member of the Appropriations Committee.
Republican lawmakers have struggled to find a compromise between Mr. Trump’s demands and Democratic opposition to spending money on a concrete wall at the border, a final dose of dysfunction in the waning moments of a Republican majority in Washington. One senator — Thom Tillis, Republican of North Carolina and a self-described silver-lining guy — said that delaying a resolution until February could pave the way for a more thorough approach to border security and an immigration overhaul.
“I’m sorry that my Democratic colleagues couldn’t put the partisanship aside and show the same good-faith flexibility that the president has shown in order to provide the resources our nation needs to secure the integrity of our borders as well as the safety of American families,” Mr. McConnell said, speaking Wednesday morning on the Senate floor.
Democrats, with a majority in the House just two weeks away, have refused to budge from the offers they had laid out for the president, which included up to $1.6 billion for border security, but nothing for the border wall. Democratic votes are needed to clear the 60-vote threshold in the Senate.
But by declaring he would “own a shutdown” in a contentious televised Oval Office meeting last week, Mr. Trump had deprived Republican lawmakers of their ability to pin responsibility for a shutdown on the Democrats.
In a series of tweets on Tuesday and Wednesday, he appeared to hedge his position.
“One way or the other, we will win on the Wall!” Mr. Trump wrote on Wednesday, later insisting in a second tweet that a newly negotiated North American trade deal would allow Mexico to indirectly pay for the wall, a claim that has been met with skepticism.
One senator — Thom Tillis, Republican of North Carolina and a self-described silver-lining guy — said that delaying resolution until February could pave the way for a more thorough approach to border security and an immigration overhaul.
“Why don’t we get to a rational discussion about border security, immigration reform, path to citizenship for the DACA population and solve that problem?” he said. “Actually, getting the $5 billion or the full funding maybe makes that discussion more likely to take place in the next Congress.”“Why don’t we get to a rational discussion about border security, immigration reform, path to citizenship for the DACA population and solve that problem?” he said. “Actually, getting the $5 billion or the full funding maybe makes that discussion more likely to take place in the next Congress.”