Two Democratic senators on Sunday urged their colleagues to “block” consideration of all bills not related to the partial government shutdown until the Senate vote on legislation passed by the House that could end a stand-off over border security funding.
Sens. Chris Van Hollen and Ben Cardin, both from Maryland where many federal employees impacted by the shutdown live, called on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., to allow for a vote.
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“Senate Democrats should block consideration of any bills unrelated to opening the government until Sen. Mitch McConnell and Senate Republicans allow a vote on the bipartisan bills the House passed to open the government. Mitch, don’t delay. Let’s vote!” tweeted Van Hollen, who is the ranking member of the Budget Committee.
Cardin responded with a tweet that said he “agreed.”
“This isn’t business as usual,” he added. “This is a crisis, a fundamental failure to govern, and Americans are suffering for it. The Senate should not take up any bills unrelated to reopening the government until @SenateMajLdr lets us vote on exactly that. #Shutdown.”
Agreed. This isn’t business as usual. This is a crisis, a fundamental failure to govern, and Americans are suffering for it.
The Senate should not take up any bills unrelated to reopening the government until @SenateMajLdr lets us vote on exactly that. #Shutdown https://t.co/IUiJLWP68R
— Senator Ben Cardin (@SenatorCardin) January 6, 2019
The House passed two measures last Thursday that would fund several affected departments and agencies through Sept. 30, and the Department of Homeland Security through Feb. 8. The legislation provides only $1.3 billion for border security that cannot be used for a southern border wall, which doesn’t add up to President Trump’s demand that Congress allocate $5.6 billion for its construction.
McConnell has said he won’t bring any spending legislation to the Senate floor that is opposed by the White House.
At least one GOP senator, Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, said she wants to vote on the legislation passed by the House.
“Well, I can’t speak for McConnell, but I would like to see him bring the House-passed bills to the Senate floor,” Collins told NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday. “We could reopen much of government where there’s no dispute over issues involving certain departments like [agriculture], transportation, housing, and interior. Let’s get those reopened while the negotiations continue.”
President Trump’s team of negotiators met with Democratic aides for a second day in a row in Washington, D.C., while he spent some time at Camp David in Maryland to discuss border security with top staff. Over the course of the day, Trump signaled he’s open to making some concessions, including backing away from calling for a concrete wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.
“V.P. Mike Pence and group had a productive meeting with the Schumer/Pelosi representatives today. Many details of Border Security were discussed. We are now planning a Steel Barrier rather than concrete. It is both stronger & less obtrusive. Good solution, and made in the U.S.A.,” Trump said.
He also suggested to reporters that he is considering offering a deal for so-called Dreamers currently protected by the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, though he prefers to wait on the Supreme Court to decide whether to take up a case after federal judges in California, New York, and Washington, D.C., ruled the president acted illegally when he tried to shut it down. The matter is currently before the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.
New House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., met with Trump and other leaders on Friday, and said afterwards that her impression was that Trump relishes a government shutdown.
“Our purpose in the meeting at the White House was to open up government. The impression you get from the president that he would like to not only close government, build a wall, but also abolish Congress so the only voice that mattered was his own,” she told “CBS Sunday Morning.”
The next move Democrats are making is to offer a series of bills, introduced by House Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., that give funding to specific departments, the first of which would fund the Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service. “While Senate Republicans acting at the behest of President Trump have blocked our bipartisan, comprehensive plan to end the government shutdown, it is urgent that we take steps to reopen parts of the government that most directly affect working families. These bills, which have already passed the Senate on a 92-6 vote, do exactly that,” Lowey said.
Approximately 800,000 of approximately 2.1 million federal workers have been furloughed or are being required to work without pay during the partial shutdown which has entered its third week.
