Trump upsets Republican strategy to avoid shutdown

The House passed a continuing resolution (CR) along party lines Thursday after GOP leadership struck a last-minute deal with the House Freedom Caucus ensuring they had the votes.

“The president is enthusiastic about today’s trip to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to discuss the incredible successes his tax plan is already achieving for the American people”, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said. He designed a stopgap bill that kicked the spending fight down the road into February without any concessions to Democrats, while including a 6-year extension of the Children’s Health Insurance Program, which everyone supports and Senate Democrats would be hard-pressed to kill.

Even if the GOP secures enough votes in the upper chamber for the bill, its fate in the Senate, where 60 votes are required to advance the legislation to a final vote, is much more uncertain.

In the end, a majority of the hardline House Freedom Caucus chose to support the bill, helping get it across the finish line, after apparent pledges from GOP leadership to hold votes in the near future on a new year-long defense funding bill and a conservative immigration bill.

Now, a second group of negotiators, led by the second-ranking Republicans and Democrats in the House and the Senate, has stepped in to attempt to craft a new deal, but the talks have been largely unsuccessful, according to several aides familiar with the discussions. He said the House bill to fund the government was “very likely to be unacceptable to the Senate”.

Shortly before the House vote, Trump wrote on Twitter: “House of Representatives needs to pass Government Funding Bill tonight”.

Overnight the spin machines will whir. A White House spokesman, Raj Shah, said that the president supports the House’s stopgap bill.

“When will Republicans start limiting government?” asked Rep. Justin Amash (R-MI), who voted against the temporary funding plan. Democrats wouldn’t really have anything to do with it.

They are cautiously optimistic that their candidate, former US attorney and Marine Corps veteran Conor Lamb, can demonstrate yet again that their party is energized and Republicans are reeling.

“Of course Democrats support CHIP Leader McConnell, you know that darn well”, Schumer said.

“This has turned into an s-show and we need to get back to being a great country”, Sen.

“If we can’t agree, your party has the majority in the House and the Senate to pass your own funding resolution”.

Democrats’ negotiating position got stronger on Thursday when Republican South Dakota Sen.

After the vote’s passage, Ryan called out Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer ahead of the Senate vote. Trump has ended an Obama-era program providing those protections and given Congress until March to restore them, and he and Republicans want any immigration deal to include money for the president’s promised wall along the Mexican border and other security measures.

“I don’t know that it’s overwhelmingly confusing, because we don’t necessarily alter our course”, said Walker.

But now, with a shutdown looming over a confrontation over the DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) programme for immigrants granted some leeway to work in the country because they were brought here as kids, Republicans won’t be able to pass the blame.

“I’m more than puzzled why they would threaten to turn their backs on those children and shut down the government while they’re at it over the entirely unrelated issue of illegal immigration”, McConnell said.

President Trump on Thursday added to the chaos gripping Washington, weighing in on the intense Republican maneuvering aimed at avoiding a politically embarrassing funding debacle.

Congress must act by midnight Friday or the government will begin immediately locking its doors. “The Democrats seem to be willing to increase military spending”. “While they have worked hard to lower the bar of expectations, there is simply no excuse for Democrats if they are unsuccessful in this race”.

The Justice Department, with many “essential” workers, has a shutdown contingency plan under which about 95,000 of the department’s nearly 115,000 staff would keep working.

The president also jabbed at Democrats in another tweet Thursday morning over the stalled negotiations to reach a deal on spending limits for this fiscal year.