The shutdown of our federal government was short-lived.
The Senate this morning voted to reopen the government and fund it for three weeks while immigration issues can be debated by the full chamber.
Here’s what happening:
What’s this about?
After calling off a vote in the wee hours of Monday, Senate leaders worked out a bipartisan deal to crank up the government again, putting all employees back to work after the forced hiatus began over the weekend. The bill, whose vote started shortly after 9:30 a.m. Pacific time, passed 81-18. Democrats yielded and ended their delaying tactics against a bill financing federal agencies through Feb. 8.
House approval of the bill is expected later.
What happened?
The Senate’s vote ends a three-day standoff that left federal agencies shuttered and hundreds of thousands of workers furloughed. Democrats agreed to advance a stopgap spending measure lasting until Feb. 8 after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell promised to allow an immigration bill to reach the floor next month.
“After several discussions, offers and counteroffers, the Republican leader and I have come to an arrangement. We will vote today to reopen the government to continue negotiating a global agreement,” Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said ahead of the vote.
The Hill reported that the three-week funding bill still needs to pass on a final up-or-down vote, “but that is a formality now that the Senate has voted to end dilatory debate. The House is expected to approve the bill quickly.”
The deal falls short of the Democrats’ initial demand that President Trump and GOP leaders agree to the rough outlines of a deal to replace the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program and protect hundreds of thousands of Dreamers facing deportation.
How did California’s Senators vote?
Both Dianne Feinstein and Kamala Harris voted against the bill to end the shutdown.
The Majority Leader’s comments fell far short of the ironclad guarantee I needed to support a stopgap spending bill. I refuse to put the lives of nearly 700,000 young people in the hands of someone who has repeatedly gone back on his word.
— Kamala Harris (@SenKamalaHarris) January 22, 2018
Harris later tweeted:
I will keep working with my colleagues to find a long-term solution that supports members of our military, funds CHIP and community health centers, provides resources for those recovering from disasters & guarantees a future for young immigrants who are as American as all of us.
— Kamala Harris (@SenKamalaHarris) January 22, 2018
Feinstein on Monday made good on her earlier vows to withhold support for a ”Continuing Resolution” to keep the government open for business unless her concerns over DACA were first addressed. She wrote on Facebook last week that “I said in December that I wouldn’t vote for a CR without the Dream Act, and I won’t do so now. I’m also hopeful that we can get away from continuing resolutions and get back to regular order. We can’t solve problems by funding the government a few weeks at a time. As a longtime member of the Appropriations Committee, I know the importance of funding the military and government agencies for a full-year.
“I’m hopeful that other senators won’t kick this can down the road yet again,” Feinstein wrote. “We need to get the Dream Act passed, negotiate a multi-year budget agreement and fund the government through September, and we need to do so now.”
What led up to the vote?
The vote was moved from 1 a.m. Eastern time Monday to this morning once it became clear Democrats would block the spending bill over disagreements on a variety of issues, most notably DACA. CNN reported that Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn of Texas said he thought Schumer agreed to push back the vote to give his caucus “a chance to chew” on a GOP proposal to break the impasse.
“It’s better to have a successful vote tomorrow at noon than a failed vote tonight,” Cornyn told reporters. It’s unclear whether Democrats have done enough chewing to give their OK to the proposal.
For much of Sunday, the New York Times reported, “feverish work by a bipartisan group of senators offered a reason for cautious optimism that a deal could be reached soon. By Sunday night, Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader, moved to delay until noon Monday a procedural vote on a temporary spending bill — a signal that talks were progressing.”
McConnell, early Monday, promised to take up an immigration bill that would protect an estimated 800,000 “Dreamers” from deportation, under an open amendment process, if Democrats would agree to end the government shutdown.
Schumer said that pledge was enough for his caucus to accept a three-week government funding bill, which is now set to pass at noon.
“After several discussions, offers and counteroffers, the Republican leader and I have come to an arrangement. We will vote today to reopen the government to continue negotiating a global agreement,” Schumer said.
What did Dick Durbin, Democratic senator from Illinois and a longtime advocate for DREAMers, say about the vote?
“We have gathered the largest bipartisan group of Senators to ever commit to moving forward on the Dream Act and immigration,” he said in a statement. “We have a process. I believe that that sets the stage for us to work together. For the first time in five years, we will have a debate on the floor of the Senate on the Dream Act and immigration. To all the Dreamers who are watching today: Don’t give up. I know that your lives are hanging in the balance on what we do here on Capitol Hill and with the White House. Three weeks from now, I hope to be joining you in celebrating the passage, with you and your families and your communities, of a measure which will strengthen America and give you an opportunity to be part of our future.”
Last July, Durbin and Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) introduced the bipartisan Dream Act, which would allow immigrant students who grew up in the United States to earn lawful permanent residence and eventually American citizenship.
Check back here for more updates.