After 34 days and a handful of hours, it seems the government will finally re-open.
From the Rose Garden, President Trump backed legislation to officially end the longest government shutdown in U.S. history, albeit temporarily. He has backed a “continuing resolution” — that is, a spending bill to maintain pre-shutdown levels of funding — to fund the government through Feb. 16. In exchange, he will get a bipartisan commission that will propose a broader border security package.
If that’s the case, the Senate will have a chance to debate those proposals. Real legislative debate is good. We should have had one before now. Instead, on Thursday, we got a very limited version of a debate in which only two options were on the table and amendments were not allowed.
The first proposal, backed by President Trump, would have funded the government by allocating $5.7 billion for wall funding in exchange for temporary immigrant protections. The second, the Democratic alternative, included funds to end the shutdown but not money to build the wall.
Everyone knew neither bill could get the 60 votes to break a filibuster. Neither did. This led to open frustration behind closed doors. The Washington Post reported that Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., blamed Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky, stating “This is your fault.”
McConnell shot back: “Are you suggesting I’m enjoying this?”
Whether or not he enjoys the process, McConnell is not blameless here. He didn’t start the shutdown, and he even tried to avoid it. But he is responsible for setting up a legislative process this week that was bound, even designed to fail. One senior GOP aide accuses the majority leader of “monopolizing the process.”
“Folks are frustrated they were put into this situation with two bills that obviously were going to fail from the start,” the aide says. “There were other possibilities that could’ve been pursued that would have put Democrats in a bad spot.”
And that’s why Democratic leaders also did what they could to block a full debate, with amendments and many votes.
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, was advocating for a measure to force Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman to pay for the wall. Another proposal, authored by Johnson and Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, would have paid roughly 420,000 federal employees forced to work without pay.
Johnson asked for unanimous consent to introduce his amendment so that it could get a debate and a vote. Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., objected on the floor, killing it.
If Trump backs legislation to temporarily reopen the government, some aides hope for a parliamentary framework that allows for debate on more than just two options going forward. Will they get it? “I doubt it,” one says.
