GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN
GOP LED Senate set to stiff Trump on border wall
The Senate is preparing to reject a House bill to fund Trump’s wall, and there’s no plan to avert a partial government shutdown at midnight.
By BURGESS EVERETT 12/21/2018 08:45 AM EST Updated 12/21/2018 01:56 PM EST
The Senate was on the verge of rejecting President Donald Trump’s border wall demands on Friday afternoon, leaving the government on course for a partial government shutdown at midnight.
The chamber was set to defeat the House-passed bill providing $5 billion for the wall and funding the government past Friday. A vote to merely advance to the bill with a simple majority was held open for more than an hour as GOP attendance problems and Sen. Jeff Flake’s (R-Ariz.) opposition put even a procedural vote in jeopardy.
Earlier, Senate Republicans rejected Trump's entreaties to eliminate the Senate filibuster to fund his border wall, the latest turn in a fraught battle over funding the government.
Trump on Friday said succinctly what’s on everyone’s mind: That congressional Democrats and the White House appear to be in an intractable impasse.
“We are totally prepared for a very long shutdown,” the president told reporters. And 10 days after declaring he’d be “proud” to take the blame for any shutdown in a fight for border security, he said it was now “totally up to the Democrats.”
Senate Republicans thought the president would sign the Senate’s bill that would fund the government through Feb. 8, but conservatives in the House and on the airwaves rallied Trump to reject it. That left both political parties heaping blame on each other as each prepared for what many now believe is an inevitable funding lapse.
“President Trump, you cannot erase months of video of you saying that you wanted a shutdown and that you wanted the responsibility and blame for a shutdown,” said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Friday.
But Republicans had already reverted to more traditional messaging after Trump’s about-face and his attempts to pin the shutdown on Democrats.
“If the Democrats vote against it, they will shut down the government. That’s the Democrats' choice,” said Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-Texas).
The Senate GOP’s slim majority made even a simple majority threshold to proceed to the bill difficult to achieve. Flake voted no and Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) spent more than hour deliberating as the GOP called a party meeting to discuss its predicament.
Corker was clearly unenthused with moving forward.
“This is going to be an interesting vote. Where do we go with this? Do we succumb to tyranny of radio talk show hosts? Do we try to make something good come out of this? I don’t know,” he told reporters on Friday, after saying on Thursday he doubted he’d even come back to D.C. for a vote. “Obviously the $5 billion is not going to pass. Obviously everybody understands that."
Senators were called back to Washington Friday to vote on the House’s spending bill and its border funding, a futile effort in the face of a Democratic filibuster.
Trump also called Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) for a White House meeting on Friday to hash it out. After the meeting, McConnell came to the Senate floor to defend Trump’s position, despite the fact that two days earlier, the Senate sent over a bill shorting the wall on a voice vote.
“This is legislation that would be quite uncontroversial in a more normal political moment — in a moment when both parties put the obvious national interest ahead of any personal spite for the president,” McConnell said.
The GOP’s leader’s defense came as his party rejected Trump’s proposed solution: Getting rid of the filibuster to fund the border wall, something McConnell has repeatedly said would not happen.
“Mitch, use the Nuclear Option and get it done! Our Country is counting on you!” Trump tweeted on Friday morning.
Republicans hold 51 Senate seats and need at least nine Democrats to pass most legislation, including funds for the border wall. Yet changing the filibuster rules in the waning days of GOP unified control would offer limited short-term gain and major long-term pain whenever Democrats take over on Capitol Hill. And conservatives have historically wielded the filibuster to slow down progressive legislation.
But there are insufficient votes to change the Senate voting rules to a simple majority. Flake and Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) said they won't vote for a rules change, and neither will Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.).
We had a reasonable path and every indication from the president was that he would sign it,” said Alexander. “I was not for a government shutdown under President Obama, I am not for a government shutdown under President Trump.”
With a quarter of the government set to close at midnight, there is no apparent plan or compromise that can pass Congress and earn Trump’s signature.
Both parties are digging in for a brutal political conflict with no clear endgame other than House Democrats taking the majority in January and sending the Senate a spending bill without wall money.
Cornyn said the Senate might stay in session over the weekend if the government shuts down and talks are continuing. But he also admitted he wasn't sure where this would end up.
"We’ll see how long people want to stay here. I don’t think anybody really will like to stay here for Christmas," he said. “If there’s a shutdown and there’s a path we can navigate, then I think it’s our responsibility to try."
Multiple House lawmakers said Friday they’ve begun making plans to stay in town over the weekend, possibly even through Christmas, as they await the next move from the Senate.
“We'll see if they send something back,” House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer said as he walked into the chamber.
GOP LED Senate set to stiff Trump on border wall
The Senate is preparing to reject a House bill to fund Trump’s wall, and there’s no plan to avert a partial government shutdown at midnight.
By BURGESS EVERETT 12/21/2018 08:45 AM EST Updated 12/21/2018 01:56 PM EST
The Senate was on the verge of rejecting President Donald Trump’s border wall demands on Friday afternoon, leaving the government on course for a partial government shutdown at midnight.
The chamber was set to defeat the House-passed bill providing $5 billion for the wall and funding the government past Friday. A vote to merely advance to the bill with a simple majority was held open for more than an hour as GOP attendance problems and Sen. Jeff Flake’s (R-Ariz.) opposition put even a procedural vote in jeopardy.
Earlier, Senate Republicans rejected Trump's entreaties to eliminate the Senate filibuster to fund his border wall, the latest turn in a fraught battle over funding the government.
Trump on Friday said succinctly what’s on everyone’s mind: That congressional Democrats and the White House appear to be in an intractable impasse.
“We are totally prepared for a very long shutdown,” the president told reporters. And 10 days after declaring he’d be “proud” to take the blame for any shutdown in a fight for border security, he said it was now “totally up to the Democrats.”
Senate Republicans thought the president would sign the Senate’s bill that would fund the government through Feb. 8, but conservatives in the House and on the airwaves rallied Trump to reject it. That left both political parties heaping blame on each other as each prepared for what many now believe is an inevitable funding lapse.
“President Trump, you cannot erase months of video of you saying that you wanted a shutdown and that you wanted the responsibility and blame for a shutdown,” said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Friday.
But Republicans had already reverted to more traditional messaging after Trump’s about-face and his attempts to pin the shutdown on Democrats.
“If the Democrats vote against it, they will shut down the government. That’s the Democrats' choice,” said Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-Texas).
The Senate GOP’s slim majority made even a simple majority threshold to proceed to the bill difficult to achieve. Flake voted no and Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) spent more than hour deliberating as the GOP called a party meeting to discuss its predicament.
Corker was clearly unenthused with moving forward.
“This is going to be an interesting vote. Where do we go with this? Do we succumb to tyranny of radio talk show hosts? Do we try to make something good come out of this? I don’t know,” he told reporters on Friday, after saying on Thursday he doubted he’d even come back to D.C. for a vote. “Obviously the $5 billion is not going to pass. Obviously everybody understands that."
Senators were called back to Washington Friday to vote on the House’s spending bill and its border funding, a futile effort in the face of a Democratic filibuster.
Trump also called Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) for a White House meeting on Friday to hash it out. After the meeting, McConnell came to the Senate floor to defend Trump’s position, despite the fact that two days earlier, the Senate sent over a bill shorting the wall on a voice vote.
“This is legislation that would be quite uncontroversial in a more normal political moment — in a moment when both parties put the obvious national interest ahead of any personal spite for the president,” McConnell said.
The GOP’s leader’s defense came as his party rejected Trump’s proposed solution: Getting rid of the filibuster to fund the border wall, something McConnell has repeatedly said would not happen.
“Mitch, use the Nuclear Option and get it done! Our Country is counting on you!” Trump tweeted on Friday morning.
Republicans hold 51 Senate seats and need at least nine Democrats to pass most legislation, including funds for the border wall. Yet changing the filibuster rules in the waning days of GOP unified control would offer limited short-term gain and major long-term pain whenever Democrats take over on Capitol Hill. And conservatives have historically wielded the filibuster to slow down progressive legislation.
But there are insufficient votes to change the Senate voting rules to a simple majority. Flake and Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) said they won't vote for a rules change, and neither will Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.).
We had a reasonable path and every indication from the president was that he would sign it,” said Alexander. “I was not for a government shutdown under President Obama, I am not for a government shutdown under President Trump.”
With a quarter of the government set to close at midnight, there is no apparent plan or compromise that can pass Congress and earn Trump’s signature.
Both parties are digging in for a brutal political conflict with no clear endgame other than House Democrats taking the majority in January and sending the Senate a spending bill without wall money.
Cornyn said the Senate might stay in session over the weekend if the government shuts down and talks are continuing. But he also admitted he wasn't sure where this would end up.
"We’ll see how long people want to stay here. I don’t think anybody really will like to stay here for Christmas," he said. “If there’s a shutdown and there’s a path we can navigate, then I think it’s our responsibility to try."
Multiple House lawmakers said Friday they’ve begun making plans to stay in town over the weekend, possibly even through Christmas, as they await the next move from the Senate.
“We'll see if they send something back,” House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer said as he walked into the chamber.
