1 of 5 | Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., speaks during a press conference after weekly Senate caucus luncheons in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday and ahead of a funding deal made on Thursday. Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI | License Photo
President Donald Trump and Senate Democrats have agreed to a deal that will avert a lengthy government shutdown, but a last-minute objection prevented it from coming to a vote, leaving questions looming over whether both the House and Senate could pass it before the Friday midnight deadline.
The Senate was edging toward a vote Thursday night, but the chamber adjourned after lawmakers failed to reach an agreement. Senators are to return to the chamber Friday, giving them a day to get it to the House and then Trump’s desk to avert a shutdown.
“I hope we can get these issues resolved,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters on the Capitol. “Right now, we got snags on both sides, but tomorrow’s another day.”
Any single senator can stall the bill’s advancement. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., objected to a provision that would repeal a law allowing lawmakers to sue if their phone records were seized during former special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation.
He also stated he disagreed with the absence of funding for the Department of Homeland Security in the package.
“The cops need us right now. They’re being demonized. They’re being spat upon. They can’t sleep at night,” he said.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer on Thursday night told reporters that “Republicans need to get their act together.”
The deal between the Democrats and the Trump administration, announced hours earlier by Schumer’s office, includes only a two-week extension of funding for the Department of Homeland Security instead of the full-year funding measure.
The deal also separates the DHS bill, leaving a package of five spending bills that could be approved Thursday night or on Friday morning.
Democrats and some Republicans demanded the funding bill for the DHS be separated from the package so that reforms could be added to the bill amid controversy over federal immigration law enforcement in Minnesota and elsewhere.
Trump celebrated the deal early Thursday evening.
“Republicans and Democrats in Congress have come together to get the vast majority of the government funded until September, while at the same time providing an extension to the Department of Homeland Security,” the president said in a post on Truth Social.
Trump said that only a government shutdown could slow the nation’s economy and that he is “working hard with Congress” to fund the federal government and keep it open.
“Hopefully, both Republicans and Democrats will give a very much needed bipartisan ‘Yes’ vote,” he added.
The Senate earlier Thursday blocked the passage of a six-bill funding package as all Democrats and seven Republicans voted against the group of bills.
Thune, R-N.D., changed his vote to “no” so the package could be brought up for a later vote. The funding package failed 55-45.
The funding deal would cause several federal agencies to briefly lose funding as of 12:01 a.m. EST on Saturday, but because most federal workers are not scheduled to work over the weekend, the funding lapse would be expected to have limited immediate impact.
Schumer, D-N.Y., on Wednesday announced a list of reforms sought by Democrats.
The Senate would need unanimous consent to split the funding package, or a shutdown would occur if no deal is reached by midnight Friday. If they make a deal, the packages would have to be approved by the House of Representatives. The deadline is midnight Friday.
The seven Republican senators who earlier voted against the measure were Rand Paul of Kentucky, Ted Budd of North Carolina, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, Mike Lee of Utah, Ashley Moody of Florida, Rick Scott of Florida and Tommy Tuberville of Alabama.
Paul usually votes against motions to move spending bills, The Hill reported. He has spoken out about the killing of Minneapolis nurse Alex Pretti and has said that DHS should create a commission to investigate the incident.
Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., who had said he’d vote for the six-bill package, voted against it.
Schumer promised that if Thune splits the DHS funding bill from the rest, Democrats would pass the other five spending bills by the Friday deadline.
“Under President Trump, Secretary [Kristi] Noem and [White House chief of staff] Stephen Miller, [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] has been unleashed without guardrails,” Schumer said.
“They violate constitutional rights all the time and deliberately refuse to coordinate with state and local law enforcement,” he added.
The House of Representatives passed the funding measures on Jan. 22, but that was before the killing of Pretti on Jan. 24 at the hands of two Border Patrol agents. The two agents have since been put on leave.
“After talking with my caucus, Senate Democrats are united on a set of common-sense and necessary policy goals that we need to rein in [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] and the violence,” Schumer said.
“I hate shutdowns. I’m one of the people who helped negotiate the solution to the end of the last shutdown, but I can’t vote for a bill that includes ICE funding under these circumstances,” Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, told CBS’s Face the Nation.
For the past week, ICE has been working in his state under Operation Catch of the Day, but Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, announced Thursday that the operation has ended.
Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., who is on the Senate Appropriations Committee, earlier said several Republican senators are willing to separate the DHS bill, though he didn’t vote with the Democrats.
“I think the Democrats don’t want to vote for a Homeland Security bill,” he told reporters. “If that’s the case, then what are our choices? To throw out all the bills? Or one?
“I think a rational person would say let’s pass what we can and work on the others,” Kennedy said.
This week in Washington
President Donald Trump walks on the South Lawn of the White House after arriving on Marine One on Tuesday. Trump threw his support behind a legislative proposal that would expand sales of higher-ethanol E15 gasoline as he looked to build support for his economic record with a rally in Iowa. Photo by Kent Nishimura/UPI | License Photo
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