UPDATED
WASHINGTON— The three-day government shutdown came to a close Monday night when President Donald Trump signed a stop-gap spending bill that would reopen the government through Feb. 8. Earlier in the day, Senate Democrats dropped their opposition to another short-term solution in return for promises from GOP leaders that they will deliberate immigration reform and other measures vital to the Democrats.
The Senate voted 81 to 18 to end a Democratic filibuster and temporarily fund the government; Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., pledged to hold a vote on a bill to protect nearly 800,000 undocumented young people or “Dreamers” who were illegally brought to this country by their parents. Those young people face possible deportation unless Congress and Trump resolve their status by the March 5 deadline.
Republicans refused to negotiate with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York on the Dreamers or other Democratic priorities until the government reopened. Republicans hammered the Democrats, insisting they were putting the well-being of hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants ahead of full funding for the military and a major children’s health insurance program.
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said at Monday’s press briefing that Democrats realize the position they had taken frankly was “indefensible.”
In the end, Schumer backed down, but said he expected McConnell to honor his commitment to action on the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program to protect the Dreamers.
On Monday, Schumer tweeted: “I am confident that there are sixty votes in the Senate for a DACA deal. And now there is a real pathway to get a bill on the floor and through the Senate.”
But many liberal Democrats and activists were disappointed that the Democrats relented, and noted there is no guarantee the House would go along with the immigration reform, even if it emerges from the Senate next month.
The House quickly passed the bill following the Senate’s vote before the bill was signed by the president. The bill also reauthorizes funding for the highly popular Children’s Health Insurance Program four six years, and postpones implementation of a handful of tax increases mandated by the Affordable Care Act.
Monday’s action came after Congressional Republican and Democratic leaders and the White House scrambled on Saturday to find a way to swiftly end a government shutdown that began shortly after midnight when the two parties and President Donald Trump could not agree on the terms of a short-term spending package.
The first partial government shutdown in nearly four years coincided with the first anniversary of Trump’s inauguration and highlighted deep differences between the two parties on issues including immigration reform, border security and defense spending.
The White House has been outspoken on putting the blame on Democrats for the government shutdown, with press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders calling their actions the “behavior of obstructionist losers, not legislators.” Republicans in Congress have also pointed the finger at Democrats who voted against the bill, which temporarily funded services like the military and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP).
“We do some crazy things here in Washington, but this is utter madness,” said House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., on Saturday morning.
Democrats have been insistent on including protections for “Dreamers,” the nearly 700,000 children of undocumented immigrants living in the U.S. The White House said on Saturday that no immigration deal would commence until the government reopens.
Democrats blocked a vote on Friday night for the fourth short-term spending bill in five months. Congressional Republicans are now pushing an amended budget bill that would halt the government shutdown.
Following the midnight deadline, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., offered to change the spending bill to last for three weeks instead of four. McConnell chose to stick with a short-term budget solution, known as a continuing resolution (CR), instead of trying to rush through a complex spending bill.
“Almost everybody on both sides doesn’t understand how we ended up here, because most of this stuff we agree on,” McConnell said after the vote.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., called for another meeting among Congressional party leaders and the president to try and complete a full spending package that he said was close to completion.
The Senate returned at noon on Saturday, while the House convened at 9 a.m. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., said Republicans in his chamber would approve the new three-week resolution, which would fund the government through February 8.
After conferring with her party members, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said she would be willing to compromise on a short-term solution.
“We have stood ready to cooperate and yield on many scores in order to get [a CR] done,” she said. “The buck stops here.”
Saturday afternoon, Schumer said the president seemed ready to make a deal with him when they met on Friday, but that right-wing conservatives influenced Trump to change his position on supporting a measure to protect undocumented immigrants under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program begun by former President Barack Obama.
“Negotiating with President Trump is like negotiating with Jell-O,” Schumer said.
White House Budget Director Mick Mulvaney said that Schumer did not offer the president what he requested during their meeting on Friday, telling reporters that Schumer offered only $1.6 billion to partially finance construction of a southern border wall after Trump asked for $20 billion.
The last government shutdown happened in 2013 during the Obama administration, when Republicans in the Senate filibustered a budget deal that would provide funding for the Affordable Care Act.
Several federal agencies have already prepared contingency plans should the shutdown continue through Monday. More than 800,000 federal employees were furloughed — or sent home without pay — during the 2013 government shutdown that lasted for 16 days.
“Early this morning, federal workers got notices from their various agencies as to whether they were exempt or furloughed employees,” Mulvaney said on Saturday.
Visitors to downtown Washington this weekend could hardly tell that the government was shutting down, because the administration made sure that museums and monuments were kept open, unlike during previous shutdowns. However, the impact of the shutdown will become far more apparent – in terms of diminished government services and shuttered agencies – if the shutdown spills over into the coming week.
This is the first government shutdown in the nation’s history to occur while a single party controlled both chambers of Congress and the White House. The House and Senate will continue meetings and negotiations through the weekend on a budget solution, but no plan has been agreed upon as of yet.