Lawmakers in the Senate reached an agreement to end the government shutdown Monday afternoon, but congressional Democrats who voted down a spending bill that would have kept the government open on Friday because it did not include a replacement for the expiring Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program appear to be right back where they started.
“The Trump shutdown will soon end,” Minority Leader Chuck Schumer before a vote on a three-week continuing resolution, “but the work must go on. And it will.”
The chamber voted 81-18 to proceed to a final vote on a CR that would keep the government running through February 8, fully fund the Children’s Health Insurance Program for six years, and would delay several Obamacare taxes.
The Senate will take a final vote on the bill Monday afternoon, and lawmakers in the House will have to approve the Senate’s three-week CR before it can be sent to President Donald Trump’s desk to be signed, ending the government shutdown.
Schumer said he and McConnell had struck a deal to advance legislation that would codify protections for 700,000 unauthorized immigrants who came to the United States as children. McConnell made a similar promise to Arizona Republican Jeff Flake in December in exchange for his support on the tax reform bill, but little progress has been made in the time since.
“The Republican majority now has 17 days to keep the Dreamers from being deported,” Schumer said.
The agreement does nothing to secure the legislation’s passage in the House, where many Republicans are opposed to the proposed bipartisan DACA bill. House Republicans secured a promise last week from Speaker Paul Ryan that a vote on a more conservative immigration bill sponsored by Rep. Bob Goodlatte would be held in the near future.
Some Senate Democrats appeared skeptical of McConnell’s deal with Schumer. California Sen. Kamala Harris told reporters after the cloture vote that taking McConnell at his word on the DACA issue would be “foolhardy.”
If a DACA fix cannot be agreed to before the government funding bill runs out February 8, Schumer said McConnell promised to bring the DREAM act to the floor in a “neutral process” that would be fair to all sides of the issue.
“I’m glad we’ve gotten past that,” said Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. “We have a chance now to get back to work.”
