By Kristina Peterson, Natalie Andrews and Siobhan Hughes
WASHINGTON -- The Senate rejected Friday a short-term spending
bill to keep the federal government operating, hours before funding
was expected to run out and trigger a shutdown of many government
services.
In a vote that required the approval of 60 senators to pass, the
measure that would have kept offices open for one month was
defeated. Lawmakers have no clear fallback plan, and aides said
they were expecting the government to partially close on the first
anniversary of President Donald Trump's inauguration.
The bill, approved by the House on Thursday largely with GOP
votes, would have funded the government through Feb. 16. But in the
Capitol on Friday, leaders mired in disputes over immigration and
spending refused to take the first step toward preventing a
shutdown without concessions from across the aisle.
"I think it is almost 100% likely the government will shut down
for some period of time," said Rep. John Yarmuth (D., Ky.) after
meeting with other members of House Democratic leadership before
the vote. "Everything we see indicates there's no way to avoid a
shutdown."
Lawmakers vowed to continue negotiations over the weekend, some
holding out hope a resolution could be reached over the weekend and
before normal business hours resume on Monday. Their disagreements
range from the amounts to allocate for military and domestic
spending to provisions, demanded by Democrats, aimed at providing
protections to young immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally by
their parents.
The measure failed despite intense negotiations throughout the
day. In a last-ditch effort to strike a deal Friday, Mr. Trump had
met in the early afternoon with Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York, the
chamber's Democratic leader, and he called House Speaker Paul Ryan
(R., Wis.) later. Although Mr. Trump and Mr. Schumer said progress
was made in their meeting, it failed to yield an immediate
long-term agreement.
One senator briefed on the meeting between the president and Mr.
Schumer said it didn't go well, putting the onus back on Congress
to find a path forward. Another person familiar with the meeting
said it wasn't contentious, but it made clear that neither side
would budge.
Mr. Trump called it an "excellent preliminary meeting in Oval
with @SenSchumer" in a tweet Friday evening, writing that they were
"making progress."
But without any breakthrough on the immigration and spending
issues that have stymied lawmakers for weeks, Washington prepared
for the first major shutdown of a government controlled by one
party.
A half-hour before the Senate was set to vote, Mr. Trump tweeted
that averting a shutdown was "not looking good."
"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," he wrote.
As the hours ticked down, both parties worked to ensure any
political fallout would fall on the other side of the aisle in a
year when control of both chambers is up for grabs in the fall's
midterm elections. Democrats stressed that Republicans control both
chambers of Congress, as well as the White House.
"Their ability to govern is so tremendously in question right
now," Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D., Ill.) said.
Republicans chastised Democrats for derailing the spending bill
in the Senate over an immigration debate that faces a later
deadline.
"Apparently they believe that the issue of illegal immigration
is more important than everything else, all of the government
services people depend on," Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell
(R., Ky.) said on the Senate floor Friday.
The immigration fight stretches back to September, when Mr.
Trump ended a program shielding the young illegal immigrants known
as Dreamers from deportation. He gave Congress until March 5 to
hash out a replacement.
Democrats sought to use their leverage on the spending bill,
which needed their votes to clear the Senate, to secure legal
protections for the Dreamers. Lawmakers from both parties have been
meeting to hammer out a compromise but weren't able to reach one by
the government-funding deadline.
"I do think both sides want a deal and it's going to happen,"
said Marc Short, the White House director of legislative affairs,
on Friday night. But he said lawmakers were "too far apart this
time to get it done in the next 48 hours."
Much of the government's work is expected to continue despite
the shutdown, as the Trump administration aims to apply what senior
administration officials called flexibility to shutdown rules that
contain a variety of exceptions.
Social Security payments would be deposited as 53,000 workers
for that agency stay on the job, as would Medicare reimbursements,
because the payments don't rely on an annual appropriation. In
addition, Mr. Trump's agencies aim to go further than previous
shutdowns and existing plans on the book, keeping agencies like the
Environmental Protection Agency open with unused funds, as well as
national parks.
Mr. Trump's own activities, including planned travel to the
World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, can continue under an
exemption for activity required by the president to carry out his
constitutional duties. However, the president's scheduled departure
for his Florida resort on Friday afternoon was canceled.
Defense Secretary Jim Mattis also isn't halting a planned trip
to Asia this weekend; the military will generally continue
operations, as will the Department of Homeland Security under
exceptions for essential activities.
--Rebecca Ballhaus and Louise Radnofsky contributed to this
article.
Write to Kristina Peterson at kristina.peterson@wsj.com, Natalie
Andrews at Natalie.Andrews@wsj.com and Siobhan Hughes at
siobhan.hughes@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 19, 2018 22:52 ET (03:52 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2018 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.