Trump urges change to Senate rule as shutdown enters second day

“Our administration worked in good faith to put a bipartisan deal on the table that would strengthen our borders, end chain migration, eliminate the visa lottery, and deal compassionately with DACA”, Pence said.

Republicans and Democrats showed no signs of ending their standoff over immigration and spending Saturday as Americans awoke to the first day of a government shutdown and Congress staged a weekend session to show voters it was trying to resolve the stalemate. Instead, they traded accusations over responsibility for the shutdown. “I assure you we will have the vote at 1 a.m. on Monday, unless there is a desire to have it sooner”, he said in a statement.

“Despite controlling the House, Senate and White House, the Republicans are so incompetent, so negligent that they couldn’t get it together to keep government open”, she said. Trump remained in regular contact with Republican leadership, aides said, but it wasn’t clear whether he had reached out to any Democrats over the weekend.

“Due to this obstruction, the government is shut down“.

Democratic Senate leader Chuck Schumer said on Twitter that the moment would be called the Trump shutdown, adding that “there is no one who deserves the blame for the position we find ourselves in more than President Trump”. But we need to have a substantive answer, and the only person who can lead us to that is President Trump. “It takes 60 votes in the Senate”. Essential services – such as mail delivery, air traffic control and Social Security payments – will continue.

The federal government entered the second day of a shutdown Sunday. Its effects will likely be more visible on Monday, when financial markets and federal offices open.

The Senate set a vote for 12 p.m. (1700 GMT) on Monday on advancing a measure that would provide temporary government funding through February 8 and allow thousands of federal employees to return to work. Three weeks ago, Senator Lindsey Graham said McCain would be back in Washington for January’s big debates.

Democrats say Schumer offered border security compromises in his meeting on Friday with the President, including potential funding for the wall, which Trump seemed initially receptive to. The White House said he has also been in touch with key cabinet secretaries.

“It’s nearly as if you were rooting for a shutdown and now we’ll have one and the blame should crash entirely on President Trump’s shoulders”, he said.

Senator Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said he and his colleagues oppose changing the chamber’s rules so that a simple majority could advance legislation to fund the government and to end the current shutdown, according to a spokesman. With a 51-seat majority in the Senate, the Republicans did not have enough seats to pass the bill without some support from the Democrats.

But McConnell rejected the idea.

Senate Republicans now hold a 51-49 edge.

In a Senate floor speech on Sunday, McConnell accused Schumer of imperiling children’s healthcare, military training, veterans’ care and other programs. They are delusional to think DACA, which is unrelated to keeping the government open and doesn’t expire until at least March 5, but probably longer, is more important to the American people than paychecks for our troops and health insurance for children. “To the Democratic leader, apparently they sound like hostages ripe for the taking”.

“I really do believe that at heart here there was an interest by some folks in the Democratic Party to deny the president sort of the victory lap of the anniversary of his inauguration, the chance to talk about the success of the tax bill, the success of the economy and jobs”, budget director Mick Mulvaney said on “Fox News Sunday”.

“I will look you in the eye and tell you President Obama wanted that shutdown”.

“They simply want to signal to their base that they are resisting the president”.

“It all really stems from the president, whose inability to clinch a deal has created the Trump shutdown”, Schumer said.

Lawmakers stayed in Washington to try and come up with a solution but they spent much of the Saturday huddled in party-line meetings, emerging only to point fingers at the other party. Treasury futures prices eased and the dollar index against a basket of currencies was slightly weaker.