US government shuts down as Senate falls short of votes for spending Bill

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                                 (Hot news Today Saturday 20 January 2018)

  US government shuts down as Senate falls short of votes for spending Bill

The US Capitol is bathed in the light of the setting sun on Thursday, Jan 18, 2018.

Senate Democrats have blocked consideration of a stopgap spending measure

to keep the government operating. Photo: The New York Times

Updated 20 January, 2018

WASHINGTON — The United States Senate fell short of the votes needed to approve a Bill to keep the federal government running as the midnight deadline on Saturday morning (Jan 20, 1pm Singapore time) passed as high-level negotiations were continuing.

Without some type of funding Bill, the US government technically ran out of money at midnight, on the first anniversary of President Donald Trump's inauguration on Jan 20, 2017.

That left scores of federal agencies across the country unable to continue operating, and hundreds of thousands of "non-essential" federal workers put on temporary unpaid leave.

The White House issued a statement blaming Senate Democrats for blocking the Bill and said it would not negotiate on immigration, a key demand of Democrats.

"We will not negotiate the status of unlawful immigrants while Democrats hold our lawful citizens hostage over their reckless demands," the statement said after the funding legislation failed to get the 60 votes needed to overcome a procedural hurdle.

In a dramatic late-night session, Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell left voting open despite appearing to fall well short of the 60 votes needed to keep alive legislation that would fund the government through Feb 16.

After a day of recriminations and frantic back-and-forth talks, senators milled on the floor of the chamber with the vote still open. Sen McConnell and Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer engaged in shuttle diplomacy, alternating between conferring with their members and each other.

Even as the lawmakers continued their discussions, White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders fired off a statement minutes before midnight blasting Democrats as "obstructionist losers, not legislators".

"When Democrats start paying our armed forces and first responders we will reopen negotiations on immigration reform," Ms Sanders added in the statement e-mailed to reporters.

The Republican-controlled House of Representatives passed a stop gap funding measure on Thursday. But Republicans then needed the support of at least 10 Democrats to pass the Bill in the Senate.

Democratic leaders demanded that the measure include protections for hundreds of thousands of young undocumented immigrants known as "Dreamers" who arrived in the United States as children with their parents. Republicans refused and neither side has been willing to back down.

Mr Trump last week rejected a bipartisan proposal, saying he wanted to include any deal for Dreamers in a bigger legislative package that also boosts funding for a border wall and tighter security at the US border with Mexico.

In a shutdown, "essential" employees who deal with public safety and national security would keep working. That includes more than 1.3 million people on active duty in the military who would be required to work and would not be paid until funding is renewed.

Although past government shutdowns have done little lasting damage to the US economy, they can rattle financial markets.

A new shutdown now would trigger a political battle between Democrats and Republicans over who is to blame.

The Trump administration's plan to halt some government operations at least nominally kicked in. The White House and federal agencies spent Friday (Jan 19) mapping out how to proceed if the deadline passed without an agreement. Some departments revived shutdown plans from the Obama years. The administration wanted as little disruption as possible. For instance, mail will continue to be delivered; airport control towers will be staffed; and the Interior Department hopes to keep the national parks open.

A day spent on phone calls and meetings, including a face-to-face discussion between Mr Trump and Sen Schumer, briefly raised hopes that a solution was within grasp. But pessimism spread in the Capitol as it was clear no deal had been reached at the White House meeting and the midnight deadline approached.

"I don't think anybody knows what's going to happen next," Senator John Kennedy, a Louisiana Republican, said earlier on Friday, before the vote.

The White House Budget Director Mick Mulvaney predicted Republicans and Democrats would strike an agreement before the weekend was out to provide temporary funding for the government that would let federal agencies open on schedule on Monday.

"I think there's a deal in the next 24 hours," Mr Mulvaney said on CNN early on Friday evening.

If there isn't, both sides were ready to place blame.

Sen Schumer on Thursday blamed the standoff on "complete disarray on the Republican side", including conflicting signals from Mr Trump on immigration.

Mr Mulvaney, at a White House briefing, said the administration was "preparing for what we're calling the Schumer Shutdown". Ms Sanders tweeted out the hashtag #SchumerShutdown.

Mr Trump pointed the finger at his political rivals earlier on Friday.

"Democrats are needed if it is to pass in the Senate - but they want illegal immigration and weak borders. Shutdown coming?" he said.

Democrats say the search for a deal has been hurt by Mr Trump sending contradictory messages about what kind of bipartisan immigration proposal he would accept.

One potential way out would be significant progress on immigration among congressional Democrats and Republicans and the White House. Members of Mr Trump's administration, including Chief of Staff John Kelly and Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, have been shuttling between meetings at the Capitol where members of both parties have been working on a getting a deal.

Democrats have been demanding that Congress act now to protect the young immigrants who are shielded under the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals programme, which Trump plans to end on March 5. Republicans want to pair that issue with stronger border security and restrictions on other immigration programs.

The House earlier voted 230-197 largely along party lines to pass a bill that would have continued government financing at current levels until Feb 16. It included a six-year extension of funding for the Children's Health Insurance Programme and a delay in implementation of three taxes imposed by the Obama-era Affordable Care Act.

Representative Charlie Dent, a moderate Republican from Pennsylvania, said there's no mystery about what is needed to resolve the impasse, since these issues had been on the table since September.

"Leadership here is going to have to allow a vote on a bipartisan DACA Bill -- take the bull by the horns and do it," Rep. Dent said, using the acronym for the immigration programme at the centre of the standoff.

"Because we're not going to remove ourselves from this treadmill of continuing resolutions until we have a bipartisan budget agreement. And we will not have a bipartisan budget agreement until there is an agreement on DACA." AGENCIES