Battle to avert US government shutdown moves to the Senate

by Jim MANNION

Agence France-Presse

WASHINGTON, United States – A last-ditch battle to avert a looming US government shutdown moved to the Senate on Friday, where Democrats angered by the collapse of immigration talks have vowed to block a stop-gap funding bill.

With the federal government set to run out of money Friday at midnight — the eve of the one-year anniversary of President Donald Trump’s inauguration — the bill cleared the House with a 230-197 vote.

But prospects appeared gloomy in the Senate, where Democrats eager for leverage on budget and immigration deals were intent on shooting it down.

“Government Funding Bill past (sic) last night in the House of Representatives. Now Democrats are needed if it is to pass in the Senate – but they want illegal immigration and weak borders. Shutdown coming? We need more Republican victories in 2018!” Trump tweeted Friday morning.

Democrat Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said that if agreement is not reached by Friday night, there should be an even shorter-term funding measure that would “give the president a few days to come to the table.”

Mitch McConnell, the Senate Republican Majority Leader, said the House bill provides for four weeks of funding, enough to allow talks to continue “without throwing the government into disarray for no reason.”

Schumer wants to “hold the entire country hostage,” McConnell said.

“The leader is looking to deflect blame, but it just won’t work,” said Schumer.

House Speaker Paul Ryan called on Schumer to avoid a government shutdown, saying: “It is risky. It is reckless. And it is wrong.”

Trump — who Schumer said “is like a Sphinx on this issue” — started on Thursday adding to the chaos gripping Washington, weighing in on the intense Republican maneuvering aimed at avoiding a politically embarrassing funding debacle.

After a burst of tweets he second-guessed top Republican lawmakers and slapped down his own chief of staff, who had been leading a White House push on Capitol Hill for a budget compromise.

Arriving at the Pentagon for a visit, Trump told reporters the government “could very well” shut down Friday.

In the event the funding dries up, federal employees for agencies considered non-essential will be ordered to stay home until a budget deal is struck, at which point they are paid retroactively.

The most recent shutdowns — in 1995, 1996 and 2013 — saw about 800,000 workers furloughed per day.

Key government bodies such as the White House, Congress, State Department and Pentagon would remain operational, but would likely furlough some staff.

The military would still report for duty, but troops — including those in combat — would potentially not be paid.

The finger-pointing had already begun, with each side blaming the other for a failure to reach a budget compromise after three previous funding extensions.

“A government shutdown will be devastating to our military… something the Dems care very little about!” Trump tweeted Thursday morning.

And yet in another tweet, Trump criticized the Republican short-term funding measure, opposing a sweetener intended to make it hard for Democrats to vote against it.

– Bargaining chip –

The sweetener is a six-year extension of CHIP, a popular children’s health insurance program which Democrats have worked hard to protect.

Up against a similar deadline last month, lawmakers passed a short-term resolution to keep the federal government funded until January 20.

If the Republican-led measure fails, Democrats will gain greater leverage to insist on a funding compromise that includes protection from deportation for the so-called “Dreamers,” the estimated 700,000 immigrants brought to the United States illegally as children.

Friday morning, Paul Ryan hit out at the Democrats on Twitter, accusing them of “taking funding for the government and funding for our troops hostage” over “unrelated policy.”

“They are treating our men and women in uniform like bargaining chips,” he fumed.

Negotiations on a bipartisan compromise that includes a solution for the “Dreamers” program collapsed in acrimony at a White House meeting last week.

Trump’s reported reference to African nations and Haiti as “shithole countries” ignited a still-smoldering political firestorm.

– No ‘evolution’ –

White House chief of staff John Kelly met Wednesday with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus to make the case that Trump had “evolved” on his signature campaign promise to build a wall the length of the US border.

Funding for border security, but not a full-blown wall, was part of the bipartisan budget compromise presented at last week’s contentious White House talks.

Participants at the meeting with Kelly quoted the retired general and former head of the Department of Homeland Security as saying Trump was not “fully informed” when he made the wall promise.

But Trump hit back on Twitter Thursday: “The Wall is the Wall, it has never changed or evolved from the first day I conceived of it,” he wrote.

“If there is no Wall, there is no Deal!” Trump said in another tweet that described Mexico as “now rated the most dangerous country in the world.”

The mixed messages from the White House prompted a rebuke Wednesday from a frustrated McConnell.

“I’m looking for something that President Trump supports, and he’s not yet indicated what measure he’s willing to sign,” McConnell told reporters.