Federal Government Shuts Down After Senate Talks Fail
by LEIGH ANN CALDWELL and FRANK THORP V
NBC News
WASHINGTON — On the eve of the anniversary of President Donald Trump's first year in office, the federal government entered a partial shutdown late Friday night as a key vote was far short from having the support needed to pass and the midnight deadline came and went.
After the vote, which was held open for two hours as senators sought to find a way out of the impasse that brought them to this moment, senators milled around the floor, huddling in various groups, as Washington waited for word of where Congress goes from here.
Meanwhile, as agencies began sending emails announcing their closure or limited capability, the White House released a statement just before midnight, saying "Senate Democrats own the Schumer Shutdown."
"We will not negotiate the status of unlawful immigrants while Democrats hold our lawful citizens hostage over their reckless demands. This is the behavior of obstructionist losers, not legislators," White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, gave a fiery floor speech, saying the shutdown was "100 percent preventable" and blaming the Democrats. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-New York, blamed President Donald Trump for being a slippery and unreliable negotiating partner. "What will it take to get Trump to say 'yes,'" Schumer said.
After the public blame game and the government closed, McConnell stood at his podium and said he's "open" to a stop-gap spending measure to Feb. 8, which is a possible opening to re-open the government.
The proposal that failed was the one passed by the House Thursday, which would have funded the government until Feb. 16, extended the low-income children's health insurance program, or CHIP, for six years and suspended some Obamacare taxes for two years.
Senate Democrats, demanding progress on the fate of those covered by the DACA program, huddled just off the Senate floor for more than hour prior the vote, after prospects of an agreement between Democrats, Republicans and the White House had already fallen apart.
Democrats placed the blame on Republicans and President Donald Trump for walking away from negotiations.
Schumer presented a proposal to break the logjam to Trump in a mid-day meeting at the White House, according to multiple Democrats — a plan to fund the government over the next two years, including money for disaster aid, the low-income children's health insurance program, opioid funding, border security and relief for those Dreamers covered by DACA.
"I even put the border wall on the table," Schumer said.
But when Schumer left the meeting, the concept started to unravel when McConnell and Trump's chief-of-staff John Kelly opposed it, according to a person familiar with the situation.
Democrats withheld their support of the bill, demanding more progress on Dreamers while some Republicans, frustrated with the spate of month-long spending bills, opposed any short-term solution. Schumer also proposed a shorter stop-gap measure, lasting just a few days, to be used as a hard deadline on an agreement on government spending levels, DACA, border security, disaster aid and children's health care.
"We're inside the 10-yard line on five issues we need a process to close the deal. And we need the president to do it,” Sen. Lindsey Graham, who helped to block the funding bill, said.
The day began with a high-stakes game of chicken and the president signaling that a shutdown was possible.
"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," Trump tweeted. "Shutdown coming? We need more Republican victories in 2018!"
The House, which passed a funding bill Thursday night but stayed in town, will come into session on Saturday, putting out a release that votes are expected.
"Tonight, on the eve of the first anniversary of his inauguration, President Trump earned an ‘F’ for failure in leadership," House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-California, said in a statement just after midnight.
It's the first shutdown since 2013 when a Democrat, Barack Obama, was the president and Republicans controlled Congress.
"I don’t understand why amnesty for DACA residents is an emergency. Nobody is being deported," Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., said.
Sen. Jon Tester, D-Montana, called the Republican bill "irresponsible."
"I’m not going to vote for this. It’s very irresponsible. It doesn’t do what this country needs at all," Tester said.
With the finger-pointing over who would be responsible already underway, a new ABC News/Washington Post poll found that 48 percent of Americans would blame President Trump and Republicans for a shutdown while 28 percent said they would blame Democrats and 18 percent said both parties would be at fault.
NBC News
WASHINGTON — On the eve of the anniversary of President Donald Trump's first year in office, the federal government entered a partial shutdown late Friday night as a key vote was far short from having the support needed to pass and the midnight deadline came and went.
After the vote, which was held open for two hours as senators sought to find a way out of the impasse that brought them to this moment, senators milled around the floor, huddling in various groups, as Washington waited for word of where Congress goes from here.
Meanwhile, as agencies began sending emails announcing their closure or limited capability, the White House released a statement just before midnight, saying "Senate Democrats own the Schumer Shutdown."
"We will not negotiate the status of unlawful immigrants while Democrats hold our lawful citizens hostage over their reckless demands. This is the behavior of obstructionist losers, not legislators," White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, gave a fiery floor speech, saying the shutdown was "100 percent preventable" and blaming the Democrats. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-New York, blamed President Donald Trump for being a slippery and unreliable negotiating partner. "What will it take to get Trump to say 'yes,'" Schumer said.
After the public blame game and the government closed, McConnell stood at his podium and said he's "open" to a stop-gap spending measure to Feb. 8, which is a possible opening to re-open the government.
The proposal that failed was the one passed by the House Thursday, which would have funded the government until Feb. 16, extended the low-income children's health insurance program, or CHIP, for six years and suspended some Obamacare taxes for two years.
Senate Democrats, demanding progress on the fate of those covered by the DACA program, huddled just off the Senate floor for more than hour prior the vote, after prospects of an agreement between Democrats, Republicans and the White House had already fallen apart.
Democrats placed the blame on Republicans and President Donald Trump for walking away from negotiations.
Schumer presented a proposal to break the logjam to Trump in a mid-day meeting at the White House, according to multiple Democrats — a plan to fund the government over the next two years, including money for disaster aid, the low-income children's health insurance program, opioid funding, border security and relief for those Dreamers covered by DACA.
"I even put the border wall on the table," Schumer said.
But when Schumer left the meeting, the concept started to unravel when McConnell and Trump's chief-of-staff John Kelly opposed it, according to a person familiar with the situation.
Democrats withheld their support of the bill, demanding more progress on Dreamers while some Republicans, frustrated with the spate of month-long spending bills, opposed any short-term solution. Schumer also proposed a shorter stop-gap measure, lasting just a few days, to be used as a hard deadline on an agreement on government spending levels, DACA, border security, disaster aid and children's health care.
"We're inside the 10-yard line on five issues we need a process to close the deal. And we need the president to do it,” Sen. Lindsey Graham, who helped to block the funding bill, said.
The day began with a high-stakes game of chicken and the president signaling that a shutdown was possible.
"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," Trump tweeted. "Shutdown coming? We need more Republican victories in 2018!"
The House, which passed a funding bill Thursday night but stayed in town, will come into session on Saturday, putting out a release that votes are expected.
"Tonight, on the eve of the first anniversary of his inauguration, President Trump earned an ‘F’ for failure in leadership," House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-California, said in a statement just after midnight.
It's the first shutdown since 2013 when a Democrat, Barack Obama, was the president and Republicans controlled Congress.
"I don’t understand why amnesty for DACA residents is an emergency. Nobody is being deported," Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., said.
Sen. Jon Tester, D-Montana, called the Republican bill "irresponsible."
"I’m not going to vote for this. It’s very irresponsible. It doesn’t do what this country needs at all," Tester said.
With the finger-pointing over who would be responsible already underway, a new ABC News/Washington Post poll found that 48 percent of Americans would blame President Trump and Republicans for a shutdown while 28 percent said they would blame Democrats and 18 percent said both parties would be at fault.
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