Government Shutdown Begins as Budget Talks Falter in Senate

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Saturday, 20 January 2018

quote [ Senators from both parties were scrambling for a new deal to reopen the government quickly, possibly just hours after the midnight deadline passed. ]

Soft paywall so article in extended.

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By SHERYL GAY STOLBERG and THOMAS KAPLAN
January 19, 2018
WASHINGTON — Much of the federal government officially shut down early Saturday morning after Senate Democrats, showing remarkable solidarity in the face of a clear political danger, blocked consideration of a stopgap spending measure to keep the government operating.

The shutdown, coming one year to the day after President Trump took office, set off a new round of partisan recriminations and posed risks for both parties. It came after a fruitless last-minute negotiating session at the White House between Mr. Trump and Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader.

With just 50 senators voting in favor, Senate Republican leaders fell well short of the 60 votes necessary to proceed on the spending measure, which had passed the House on Thursday. Five conservative state Democrats voted for the spending measure. Five Republicans voted against it, although one of those, Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader, did so for procedural reasons.

As the clock ticked toward midnight, when funding for the government was set to expire, senators huddled on the floor of the crowded Senate chamber, searching for some way forward.

Then, in the early morning hours, Mr. McConnell proposed a measure that would keep the government open for another three weeks, not four as the House measure would have done, and said the Senate would come back to into session at noon Saturday.

“Senate Democrats own the Schumer Shutdown,” the White House press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, said in a statement. “Tonight, they put politics above our national security, military families, and our country’s ability to serve all Americans.”

Democrats, calling it the “Trump shutdown,” countered that Republicans were responsible for the management of a government in their control.

“Every American knows the Republican Party controls the White House, the Senate, the House,” Mr. Schumer said. “It’s their job to keep the government open.”
In addition to funding government operations through Feb. 16, the House-passed bill would extend funding by six years for the popular Children’s Health Insurance Program, a provision intended to secure Democratic votes.

But Democrats were seeking concessions on other priorities, such as protecting young undocumented immigrants from deportation, increasing domestic spending, securing disaster aid for Puerto Rico and bolstering the government’s response to the opioid epidemic.

Federal agencies had prepared for the shutdown; on Thursday night, officials at the White House Office of Management and Budget instructed federal agency leaders to give their employees informal notice of who would be furloughed and who would not if funding lapsed.

Formal notifications are to be given as early as Saturday morning, budget office officials said, insisting on anonymity to brief reporters about the details of what the White House called “lapse planning and shutdown operations.”

More than one million active-duty military personnel will serve with no lapse, they said, but could not be paid until the shutdown ends. Agencies like the Energy Department that have funding that is not subject to annual appropriations can use that money to stay open, the officials said, and the administration is encouraging them to do so. Most mandatory programs — entitlements such as Social Security that are automatically funded rather than subject to congressional appropriations — can continue without disruption.

Officials said Mr. Trump may travel on Air Force One to carry out his constitutional responsibilities, including a planned trip next week to Davos, Switzerland — although it was unclear whether trips to Mar-a-Lago — his exclusive club in Palm Beach, Fla. — such as the one he had planned for this weekend, would fall into that category.

Mr. Trump canceled plans on Friday to travel to his Florida resort and will stay in Washington until a spending bill is passed, a White House official said Friday morning.

The Senate’s vote, late Friday night, came after a day of budget brinkmanship in Washington that included the 90-minute Oval Office negotiating session between Mr. Trump and Mr. Schumer.

“We had a long and detailed meeting,” Mr. Schumer said at the Capitol after leaving the White House. “We discussed all of the major outstanding issues. We made some progress, but we still have a good number of disagreements. The discussions will continue.”

Just hours later, the negotiations collapsed.

By Friday night, a last-minute congressional deal to stop a rare shutdown of a federal government under one-party control remained elusive.

“Our Democratic colleagues are engaged in a dangerous game of chicken,” Senator John Cornyn of Texas, the No. 2 Senate Republican, warned in a speech on the Senate floor.

Mr. Trump, who described his session with Mr. Schumer as an “excellent preliminary meeting” in a Twitter post Friday afternoon, did not appear able or willing to suggest his own solution.

Mr. Cornyn said Mr. Trump had rejected a proposal by Mr. Schumer to fund the government through Tuesday to allow negotiations to continue.

“The president told him to go back and talk to Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell and work it out,” Mr. Cornyn said, referring to the House speaker and Senate majority leader. A spokesman for Mr. Schumer, Matt House, said that was not true.

Senate Democrats still held out hope that Mr. Trump, scorched by the firestorm prompted by his vulgar, racially tinged comments on Africa last week, would be willing to make concessions.

“It’s time for us as Democrats and Republicans to sit down in a room together, think about this great nation and the frustration they have with our political system and those of us in political life,” Senator Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, the No. 2 Democrat in the Senate, said in a speech on the Senate floor.

Around the country, state and local officials were left scratching their heads at the dysfunction in Washington.

“We’re the United States of America,” Gov. Matt Mead, the two-term Republican governor of Wyoming, said in an interview on Friday. “We should be able to figure out these problems without going to the cliff every so often, whether it’s with Republicans or Democrats in office. There certainly has to be a better way.”

Democrats delivered speeches on the Senate floor in front of a huge placard that blared, “Trump Shutdown.” At the White House, Mr. Trump’s budget director, Mick Mulvaney, said the Trump administration was preparing for “what we’re calling the ‘Schumer shutdown.’”

Tempers were flaring in the Republican Party, as well. Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, a moderate on immigration who has been trying to broker a deal with Democrats, laced into Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas on Friday, deriding him as “the Steve King of the Senate” in an interview with MSNBC, a reference to the Iowa congressman who is perhaps the most virulent anti-immigrant voice in Congress.

Are You a Federal Worker Who Would be Affected by the Looming Shutdown?
Mr. Cotton, who has helped thwart Mr. Graham’s efforts, retorted by referring to Mr. Graham’s failed 2016 presidential bid.

“The difference between Steve King and Lindsey Graham is that Steve King can actually win an election in Iowa,” Mr. Cotton told reporters.

Mr. Cotton went on to argue that it was Mr. Trump’s views on immigration that powered him to the Republican Party’s nomination, while Mr. Graham was relegated to the “kiddie table” at the primary debates.

For Democrats, voting against the stopgap measure posed undeniable risks. Ten Senate Democrats are running for re-election in states that Mr. Trump won in 2016 — including Indiana, Missouri, North Dakota and West Virginia, where some voters may hold little sympathy for one of the primary causes of the looming shutdown: protecting the young undocumented immigrants known as Dreamers.

Five of those Democrats introduced legislation on Friday to withhold pay from members of Congress during a shutdown. “If members of Congress can’t figure this out and keep the government open, then none of us should get paid,” said Senator Claire McCaskill, Democrat of Missouri.

Earlier in the day, Mr. McConnell warned that the Senate was “just hours away from an entirely avoidable government shutdown.”

“This vote should be a no-brainer,” Mr. McConnell said, “and it would be, except the Democratic leader has convinced his members to filibuster any funding bill that doesn’t include legislation they are demanding for people who came into the United States illegally.”

The standoff on immigration dates to September, when Mr. Trump moved to end an Obama-era program called Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, which shields the young immigrants from deportation. Democrats have been eager to enshrine into law protections for those immigrants.

At the same time, congressional leaders from both parties have been trying to reach an agreement to raise strict limits on domestic and military spending, a deal that would pave the way for a long-term spending package. So far this fiscal year, they have relied on stopgap measures to keep the government funded.

“At some point, Congress needs to do better than government-by-crisis, short-term fixes, and sidestepping difficult issues,” said Senator Chris Coons, Democrat of Delaware. “That time is now.”

[SFW] [politics]	[+3 Interesting]
[by JWWargo@8:57amGMT]

Comments

ScoobySnacks said @ 4:50pm GMT on 20th Jan [Score:2 Funsightful]

The President said he was going to run America like his businesses. Apparently we have reached the part where he would usually just declare bankruptcy and run away. #TrumpShutdown
— Jason Kander (@JasonKander) January 19, 2018

1111 said @ 6:52pm GMT on 20th Jan [Score:-3]
filtered comment under your threshold

midden said @ 8:10pm GMT on 20th Jan [Score:0 Classy Pr0n]

If only the government's budget and the economy were somehow linked in some reasonable way...

And to put that dow snapshot into the larger context:

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rhesusmonkey said @ 6:56pm GMT on 21st Jan [Score:-3]
filtered comment under your threshold

1111 said @ 10:47pm GMT on 21st Jan [Score:-3]
filtered comment under your threshold

HoZay said @ 9:08am GMT on 20th Jan

Another day in the Trumpocalypse. Shocking, but not surprising.

norok said @ 10:45am GMT on 20th Jan [Score:-1 Unworthy Self Link]
filtered comment under your threshold

mechavolt said @ 3:52pm GMT on 20th Jan [Score:2]

Yes, in the sense that Republicans are once again holding health insurance hostage to derail governance. 2013 was an attempt to defund the Affordable Care Act. 2018 was an attempt to pretend that CHIP is a partisan program in order to make the Democrats look callous.

But you knew that already.

knumbknutz said^[1] @ 4:52pm GMT on 20th Jan

I know dude - it always kind of makes me chuckle a bit when someone just drops a completely false equivalency in a thread as well.

If I was to pick a analogy to describe this, it would be something along the lines of - Imagine your apartment building is on fire because your neighbor (the crazy nazi skinhead-guy who wants to kick out all the Mexicans, Muslims, and immigrants from majority non-white nations, strip benefits from disabled veterans, take health care and food from hungry children, re-enslave blacks via a racist “justice” system, remove women from the workplace and strip away their rights, and lock up or flat-out murder gay people) purposefully lit the building on fire. That same neighbor also controls the fire extinguishers and sprinkler system but refuses to turn them on unless you agree to let harm come to all those communities first. Of course it is a moral conundrum for the person NOT in charge, but, the party responsible for creating the problem is quite clear about the what and why of things, and loudly shouts "HAH!! - SEE, THEY REFUSE TO WORK WITH US!!".

Also, its fucked up how they are making a big show of acting like they are appalled over a partial shutdown of the "big-government" they are on record of saying they hate and need to save all of us from.

norok said @ 7:06pm GMT on 20th Jan

Pretty sure I read in the article that the deal Trump was trying to reach would fund CHIP for 6 years but negotiations broke down over DACA and other things.

rhesusmonkey said @ 6:49pm GMT on 21st Jan

... until Trump walk away from that position / deal with a Tweet, yes. I find it ironic that the GOP leadership bas to talk about "spinning their wheels" because they have no idea what kind of deal would actually get his approval.

the other lie trotted out frequently is the "60 Senators are needed" bs, they only need that to avoid a filibuster, and they have enough senators to pass a simple majority vote without Dem help. Arguing that any deal must be "filibuster-proof" just shows how little they want to negotiate, or air the discussion in public.

ComposerNate said @ 9:50am GMT on 20th Jan

Everything's coming up Putin

BUGGERLUGS123 said @ 11:37am GMT on 20th Jan

Indeed it is, just a matter of time now. I give trump till April at the most.

HoZay said @ 12:12pm GMT on 20th Jan

To do what?

ComposerNate said^[2] @ 3:09pm GMT on 20th Jan [Score:2]

End it all in a bunker holding his daughter, a pistol, and some pills.

C18H27NO3 said @ 10:05pm GMT on 20th Jan

Can we leave the pills and the pistol out of it? They have no blame whatsoever. They have no culpability in "ending it all." Insinuating as much is filthy, disgusting, and completely unwarranted. All of our lives depend on it.

Thanks.

ComposerNate said @ 11:44pm GMT on 20th Jan

Your comment makes me wonder what you read.

ComposerNate said @ 1:12pm GMT on 20th Jan

People vote Republican to either start a war or shut down the government.

knumbknutz said @ 3:57pm GMT on 20th Jan

You're looking at what remains of the Tea Party/Republican "red-tsunami." A bunch of trash talking wimps, who are nothing more than Paul Ryan's errand boys. (Disclaimer - Ryan himself is a lackey and errand boy of coal barons, petro-drillers and oil sheiks.)

Now (with a straight face even) they act like they are appalled over a partial shutdown of the "big-government" they are on record of saying they hate?

ComposerNate said @ 4:33pm GMT on 20th Jan [Score:1 Underrated]

US voters who wish to either start a war or shut down the government vote Republican.

Dienes said @ 3:01pm GMT on 20th Jan

How phenomenally and unsurprisingly shitty of them to hold the health of nearly 9 million children hostage in an attempt to get rid of DACA.

Hugh E. said @ 4:55pm GMT on 20th Jan

For the longest time I truly thought not providing for CHIP was stupidity, ineptitude. Now it is clear it was political malice. #NotAllRazors

bbqkink said @ 6:36pm GMT on 20th Jan

Lets not forget what this is all about..this is about DACA. The Chip program and a couple of more smaller programs were not reauthorized in order to make this hurt more...how could Democrats vote against the poor sick children even thought they have been screaming bloody murder for months to get them passed.

This is done to make it harder to stand up for DACA.

knumbknutz said @ 3:15pm GMT on 20th Jan

His party controls the whole freaking government and they cannot pass their own bills?

He couldn't even get all of his own people to vote for that steaming pile of crap.

bbqkink said @ 6:10pm GMT on 20th Jan

This was the first time they were forged to be bipartisan. Up until now they have done everything with strictly Republican votes through the reconciliation process...they are still trying to make it all work with just GOP votes...This is new territory and nobody knows what will happen...a lot of it depends on how the public reacts and how the media covers it...have a seat this may take a while.

knumbknutz said^[1] @ 5:29pm GMT on 22nd Jan

Hot off the press today - WH On GOP Lawmakers: ‘They’re Not Paying Attention’ To Trump’s Demands

Jeebus - I've seen better organized riots

bbqkink said^[1] @ 6:05pm GMT on 20th Jan

From what I see and this should be worrying to anybody who relies on government dollars or personnel. I don't see an end game..for either side.
This may last a while.

HoZay said @ 1:08am GMT on 21st Jan

I might not get my nut-check? That will suck bigly.

mechanical contrivance said @ 7:03pm GMT on 20th Jan

Does this mean we don't have to pay taxes anymore?

Taxman said @ 11:18pm GMT on 20th Jan [Score:1 Funsightful]

Think again.

1	ScoobySnacks
2	HoZay
3	Paracetamol
4	lilmookieesquire
5	Ankylosaur