FILE - In this June 20, 2017, file photo, the U.S. Capitol in Washington, at sunrise. There’ll be two new faces in the Senate and plenty of familiar but stubborn problems facing Congress in 2018, starting with a Jan. 19 deadline to reach a bipartisan budget pact and avert a partial government shutdown (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)The Associated Press
The U.S. federal government will start shutting down non-essential services amid a spat over immigration and spending between President Donald Trump's Republican administration and the Democratic opposition in Congress.
Lawmakers failed to pass a spending bill by 11.59 p.m. Friday, causing funding for the government to run out. Essential services, such as the military, border patrol and the post office, will continue to run, but employees will not be paid until the stand-off is over. U.S. negotiators are also still expected to participate in NAFTA talks next week in Montreal. But non-essential services, such as campgrounds in national parks and the medical research agency the National Institutes of Health, will likely close.
A last-minute procedural vote on a one-month stop-gap spending bill failed to achieve the necessary 60 votes in the Senate around 10.30 p.m. Friday. Legislators continued negotiating overnight. The full effect of the shutdown will not be felt until Monday, when most government offices would open for business, giving Congress and the administration time over the weekend to try to hammer out a deal.
The semi-regular threat of a shutdown is one of the most visible signs of the partisanship and dysfunction of U.S. politics. Congress has failed to pass a budget this fiscal year and has instead relied on a series of short-term spending orders called "continuing resolutions" to keep the government funded. The most recent resolution expired Friday night.
Every continuing resolution is an opportunity for members of Congress to demand concessions in exchange for voting to keep the government running. In the current instance, the Democrats want Mr. Trump and the Republicans to agree to legislation that would allow undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children – known as "Dreamers" – to stay in the country. Mr. Trump wants to trade such legislation for funding of his promised wall on the U.S. border with Mexico.
On Friday, the President accused Democrats on Twitter of wanting "illegal immigration" and "weak borders." His press secretary, Sarah Sanders, vowed in a statement that the White House "will not negotiate the status of unlawful immigrants while Democrats hold our lawful citizens hostage over their reckless demands," and labelled the opposition party "obstructionist losers."
"Not looking good for our great Military or Safety & Security on the very dangerous Southern Border," Mr. Trump tweeted Friday evening. "Dems want a Shutdown in order to help diminish the great success of the Tax Cuts, and what they are doing for our booming economy."
Democrats fired back that Republicans, who control the White House and both chambers of Congress, bear ultimate responsibility for the failure to reach a legislative solution. They noted that last week, Mr. Trump torpedoed a bipartisan proposal to resolve the fate of the Dreamers. And protesters descended on a Senate office building, demanding the Republicans agree to an immigration bill.
On Friday afternoon, Mr. Trump cancelled plans to jet to his Florida home, Mar-a-Lago, and summoned Charles Schumer, the Democratic leader in the Senate, to the White House for last-minute talks. The House had already passed the one-month extension of government funding, putting the pressure on the Senate to ratify the same measure, come up with an alternative, or allow the government to start shutting down. A spending package needs 60 Senate votes to pass, and the Republicans hold only 51 seats.
"Excellent preliminary meeting in Oval with @SenSchumer – working on solutions for Security and our great Military," Mr. Trump tweeted after the sit-down. "Making progress – four-week extension would be best!"
Later, Mr. Schumer said he had believed a deal was close after speaking with Mr. Trump — and the Democrats had even been willing to put the border wall on the table — but the White House subsequently backed out. The call to Mr. Schumer nixing the deal came from Mr. Trump's chief of staff, John Kelly, The Guardian reported.
Mr. Schumer was more circumspect. "We made some progress, but we still have a good number of disagreements. The discussions will continue," he said at the Capitol.
The threat of a shutdown is a frequent occurrence in the United States, where Congress regularly fails to pass a budget. But an actual shutdown had not happened since 2013, when Democratic President Barack Obama faced off with GOP lawmakers. That time, the central issue was a Republican demand to dismantle Mr. Obama's signature health-care law. The shutdown lasted 16 days. Amid growing public opposition, the Republicans dropped their demands and voted to fund the government.
"We have reached such heightened levels of party polarization and the inability to compromise that there's no goodwill to pass a budget and make long-term compromises," said Jennifer Lawless, a professor of government at American University in Washington.
The current showdown has been brewing for months. Republicans want an increase in military spending and funds to build a wall on the border with Mexico. Democrats want increased spending caps for domestic programs and funds for a children's health program. Both sides want a bill on Dreamers, but disagree how it should work. The Dreamers had been protected from deportation by an order signed by Mr. Obama, which Mr. Trump cancelled in September.
Now, Democrats are "trying to make a point in the same way Republicans were trying to make a point" when they forced shutdowns in 2013 and 1995, said Stan Collender, an expert on the federal budget and a partner at Qorvis Communications. "You're showing voters what you're willing to do and what you'd do if you were in charge."
The Trump administration said on Friday it would try to keep as many services running as possible. But observers said Mr. Trump could not escape the blowback, particularly given the shutdown's symbolic timing.
“It comes down to Donald Trump cutting a deal with Chuck Schumer,” said Doug Heye, a former top Republican congressional aide. “It would be a real black mark for the administration if we were in a shutdown on the one-year anniversary of the inauguration.”