Trump accuses Democrats of ‘holding our Military hostage’ over shutdown impasse

“There is absolutely nothing in this bill that Senate Democrats oppose, yet they are shutting down the government”, said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. In an attempt to extend the federal budget, Democrats blocked an agreed spending plan after having no solution included for more than 700.000 migrants beneficed by DACA program. Government offices and national parks closed for 16 days.

The shutdown could be over quickly, though – or not.

The Senate is due to reconvene on Saturday afternoon local time.

A House-passed stopgap bill that would have avoided a government shutdown failed Friday night at 9PM Pacific Time, effectively shutting down all non-essential functions of the federal government.

He said he wanted to include any deal for Dreamers in a bigger legislative package that also boosted funding for a wall and tighter security measures along the USA border with Mexico. But McConnell reportedly would not agree to tie that legislation to a must-pass bill, leaving its fate in the House in question, according to Politico. But they later emerged from the White House meeting without an agreement.

In a stalemate that largely pivots on an immigration issue, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Saturday repeated the Trump administration’s hard-line stand: No negotiation on immigration until Democrats vote to reopen the government. So in a last ditch effort to keep the government and his vacation from grinding to a halt, Trump tried on Friday to strike a deal on his own with Chuck Schumer, the ranking Democrat in the Senate.

What’s the political fallout from this mess? Meanwhile, the President watches it all unfold from the White House – and tweets the blame on Democrats. That killed any hopes among Democrats that Schumer could persuade Trump to make concessions on the expiring Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.

Democrats say Trump and his Republicans keep moving the goal posts, with the president on Friday rejecting a budget and immigration deal that even included funding for his cherished wall along the United States border with Mexico, one of the chief planks of his presidential campaign. The immediate impact of a shutdown would be blunted by it taking place over a weekend, but agencies would begin to feel the full effect Monday if a resolution is not yet reached. That could expose them to charges that they are responsible for a shutdown, but they point the finger at Republicans instead.

Sixty votes were needed to advance the bill to keep the government open, but it failed 50-49. “Shutdown coming? We need more Republican victories in 2018!”