Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said the Trump administration is “extremely flexible” on legislation to prevent a partial government shutdown by a Dec. 21 deadline and pledged a deal would be signed into law by then.
“I am now in consultation with the White House on the way forward,” McConnell, R-Ky., said Tuesday after huddling with GOP senators. “I might say the administration is extremely flexible on this issue.”
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Republicans and Democrats left a Tuesday meeting without any agreement on legislation to fund the remaining 25 percent of the government that was left unfunded for fiscal year 2019.
Democrats rejected a deal offered by the GOP to pass the Senate’s bipartisan fiscal 2019 homeland security funding measure, which includes $1.6 billion for border security, plus an additional $1 billion in funding that could be used for more border security needs.
McConnell said he thought the offer “was reasonable” for both parties to end the fight over funding for a southern border wall, which is at the heart of the weekslong impasse.
But Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., called the $1 billion addition a “slush fund for the president to use for his radical immigration agenda,” despite a pledge by Republicans that the money would be designated for border security but not a physical wall.
Republicans are now weighing other proposals, including taking up the fiscal 2019 homeland security funding bill that cleared committee earlier this year.
“There is probably some interest in that,” incoming Senate Majority Whip John Thune, R-S.D., now the No. 3 Republican, said.
Thune said Republicans want to avoid a short-term funding measure, or Continuing Resolution, that punts the problem into next year and leaves funding at 2018 levels.
They also want to ensure the bill includes enough border security funding to win the president’s signature. Trump has already signaled he may find a way to circumvent Congress by using some military funding to build the wall.
“It’s very fluid,” Thune said when asked how the matter might get resolved by Friday’s deadline. “It’s hard to handicap how it all ends except to say our goal is to get a long-term agreement.”
Democratic leaders have put forward an offer to fund the Department of Homeland Security at 2018 levels, which would include $1.3 billion for border security. Schumer said he’d also be open to another short-term funding measure that keeps funding at 2018 levels — but only until early next year, rather than all of fiscal year 2019.
Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard Shelby, R-Ala., said a continuing resolution is looking “more likely.”
McConnell pledged no matter what happens, there will be no partial closure after Friday’s deadline. Something will be signed into law.
“I think there is certainly bipartisan support for avoiding a government shutdown,” McConnell said. “We are in discussion with the White House about the way forward.”
