The Impending Government Shutdown, Explained

Talks also continued on related issues, including how to fund a children’s healthcare program and to establish higher spending caps for the USA military and other domestic programs.

Later Thursday, Trump called into a meeting of the House Freedom Caucus to push for the proposal. Conservative Republicans and defense hawks object to yet another temporary measure and want more stable funding.

Ryan said at a news conference Thursday that whipping efforts on the proposal are “doing fine” and that Trump’s tweet on CHIP was not causing “problems at all”.

But most Senate Democrats and some Republicans were expected to oppose the measure when it reaches that chamber later Thursday.

The overall political environment heading into this shutdown showdown also looks more toxic for Republicans than in the past two shutdowns. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., came out against the short-term spending bill Wednesday.

The prospects for passage of the spending bill in the Senate were dicey.

House leaders hope to vote on a spending bill on Thursday but a growing number of members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus say they may vote against the bill. Democrats are demanding that spending legislation include a provision permanently shielding about 690,000 undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S.as children from deportation. Richard Shelby, R-Ala.

“You have the leverage”.

Republican leaders are racing against a Friday deadline for pushing a short-term spending bill through Congress.

Trump himself weighed in from Pennsylvania, where he flew to help a GOP candidate in a special congressional election.

Congressional Democrats aren’t backing down from their threats to reject any government funding bill that isn’t paired with protection for thousands of young immigrants, as hard-line liberal groups shrug off risks of a government shutdown.

Last week Trump told lawmakers he would sign an immigration reform bill as soon as negotiators concluded a deal and it passed Congress.

Trump has telegraphed how the GOP would attack Democrats should there be a shutdown this weekend.

They also cite polls showing a potential blue wave in November, and argue that the victory of Doug Jones in the special election in deep-red Alabama past year shows the party can play all over the map this cycle.

House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has urged her troops to vote against the bill.

Congress must act by midnight Friday or the government will begin immediately locking its doors.

But many rank-and-file members believe that enough Republicans will end up supporting the CR, which would shift the spending fight – and the blame for any shutdown – to the Senate.

In the event of a shutdown, food inspections and other vital services would continue, as would Social Security, other federal benefit programs and most military operations.

The funding measure does not include a legislative shield for Dreamers but it does grant Democrats an unrelated, high-priority measure: A six-year reauthorisation of the Children’s Health Insurance Programme (CHIP).

The third major issue was children’s insurance.

The top Republican in the U.S. Senate said on Wednesday he was waiting to find out what President Donald Trump would support in terms of immigration legislation before devoting floor time to any bill.

Democrats say they are unwilling to vote for a spending bill that does not provide a pathway to citizenship for the roughly 700,000 immigrants who are in the country illegally after being brought here as children.

These protections are set to expire in March following President Donald Trump’s rescission of DACA in September.

President Trump and congressional Democrats appear no closer to a deal on protecting “Dreamers” from deportation, but GOP lawmakers are working on a Plan B that would – if approved – prevent an election-year shutdown of the government, extending funding at least another month. “Democrats seem to be willing to increase military spending”.

“We don’t know whether the House will send us this bill, but the revulsion towards that bill was broad and strong”, Schumer said. Republicans have a 238-193 advantage in the House, but they don’t quite have unity.

The bill would offer a pathway to citizenship for eligible young undocumented immigrants who came to the USA as children, allocate almost $3 billion to a border wall and technology, limit sponsorship of family members by recipients of the program and reallocate diversity lottery visas to other immigration programs.