Risk of United States govt shutdown eases with Trump’s wall retreat

And both Democrats and Republicans are trying to salvage a coal miners’ pension fund that tanked during the Great Recession and now is at risk of going insolvent unless the government intervenes.

Bipartisan negotiators had quietly been making progress on a bill that would fund the government for the rest of fiscal year 2017, after the current funding law expires on April 28.

The House Democratic whip, Steny H. Hoyer of Maryland, said the payments were something Republicans “need to do for the American people, not as a “give” to Democrats in negotiations”. Senate Republicans, of which there are only 52, may need 60 votes to advance the spending bill in their chamber if Democrats filibuster.

Trump had requested that Congress provide US funds to begin the wall, but he signaled Monday that he would not insist on it, saying he might be willing to wait until September for the funding. And we’re going to have the wall built.

“A lot of us have been pushing for additional border security funding for a while, but a solitary 2,000-mile wall has never been a must-have for anybody in a border state”, he said.

Democrats welcomed Trump’s changed course, but it drew swift criticism from conservatives who support the wall as a way to curb illegal immigration, as Trump promised in one of the most prominent issues of his campaign. However, House Republicans said they are still planning on coming to an agreement on a larger omnibus spending bill – which just crams together 11 appropriations bills into one spending package – by Friday. “And we’re pleased that the president has indicated that he is backing off from a wall”. The White House rolled back its threat by Wednesday afternoon. That put pressure on Democrats to drop their insistence on Obamacare funding.

CSR payments go to insurers to help defray the cost of offering plans to low-income Americans.

The White House once seemed more interested in a fight than congressional Republicans. By dropping his call for immediate funding for it, he may clear a path to a spending bill but he loses something to tout as progress on his agenda since taking office on January 20.

Director of the Office of Management and Budget Mick Mulvaney told Pelosi in a conversation Tuesday night that the administration would not accept a bill that included the payments, according to an aide briefed on the conversation. Many insurers have said they would likely exit Obamacare completely for 2018 or hike rates substantially – by 20% or more, Anthem said Wednesday morning – if the subsidies end. With little to show in legislative victories so far, the Trump administration would love to claim achievements on Capitol Hill by that day – this Saturday.

Standard & Poor’s estimates the last government shutdown in 2013 cost the USA economy $24 billion, and polls showed most Americans blamed Republicans for it back when they were in the minority in the House and the Senate.

“I don’t think anything has changed”, Spicer said, adding that discussions were ongoing with both houses of Congress.

At the same time, House Republicans had a breakthrough on their moribund health care legislation as a key group of conservatives, the House Freedom Caucus, announced it would support a revised version of the bill.

House Republican aides say that it’s still possible to vote for the measure on Friday and that it could pass the Senate this week as well.

The government has been running on stopgap funding since October 1, or almost seven months.

“This is painless and easy….[Fiscal 2018] is not going to be painless and easy”, he said.