US Senate reconvened to end federal government shutdown

WASHINGTON: The upper chamber of the US Congress reconvened Monday to vote for a short-term bill to help reopen the federal government and provide funding, as the shutdown entered third day.

"The bill before us does three things that every Democrat and Republican should be able to support. First, it ends the shutdown and restores full funding for the federal government through Feb 8. Second, it extends health insurance for nine million vulnerable children," the Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell said, adding, "Third, it will enable Congress to resume serious bipartisan talks on the important issues facing our nation."

Meanwhile, the Senate minority leader Charles Schumer said on the floor that the agreement to reopen government is contingent on the fact the Senate will immediately proceed to immigration legislation if a deal to address the expiring DACA isn't struck by the expiration of the next stopgap. "After several discussions, offers, counteroffers, the Republican leader and I have come to an arrangement," Schumer said. After the Senate agreement, the bill moves to the lower chamber.

Exactly a year after Donald Trump took over the White House, the US federal government shut down on Friday night. The Senate members worked throughout the weekend to reach a deal but failed. However, on Monday, the breakthrough came when the chamber resolved to pass the short-term bill.

Both the Republicans and Democrats blamed each other for the shutdown. President Trump tweeted earlySaturday morning about the lapse in government funding and accused Democrats of holding the military hostage over "their desire to have unchecked illegal immigration." He added, "Can’t let that happen!" Meanwhile, the Democrats said that the president was responsible for not keeping his word and finding a deal to protect immigrants.

The Senate leaders vowed to keep the debate open over the weekend so the impact of the shutdown is minimum. Chuck Schumer, a Democrat senator from New York and minority leader, hoped for a path forward. "We can reach it quickly," he said adding, "The president and the four leaders should immediately sit down and finish this deal so the entire government can get back to work on Monday." The Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell announced to offer an option where the deadline will further shorten from four weeks to three weeks to keep the government funded through Feb 8, rather than Feb 16 date that the rejected bill would have set.

The three-week proposal was suggested by Senator Lindsey Graham, while the House of Representatives had already adopted a four-week option. The four-week funding bill required a 60 yes votes in Senate but failed. The final vote until Friday night was 50-49.

Republicans want to extend the popular Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) for six years as against the insurance program that Democrats want to fund. While, Democrats argue for an immigration plan to provide citizenship to 700,000 immigrants enrolled in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.

Anticipating a shutdown, the Senate minority leader had met with President Trump on Friday to negotiate a deal. He said he even put the border wall on the table to reach a compromise on DACA. "Even that was not enough to entice the president to finish the deal," he said. "What happened to the president who asked us to come out with a deal and promised he'd take heat for it? What happened to that president? He backed off at the first sign of pressure."

Shortly before midnight, the White House released a statement saying, "Senate Democrats own the Shummer Shutdown. Tonight, they put politics above our national security, military families, vulnerable children, and our country's ability to serve all Americans. We will not negotiate the status of unlawful immigrants while Democrats hold our lawful citizens hostage over their reckless demands. The is the behaviour of obstructionist losers, not legislators."

At least 26 federal agencies updated their shutdown contingency plans on Friday in order to make the closures less onerous, the local media reported. "Mandatory spending like social security and disaster relief will continue, as they have in past shutdowns. Military troops, police and other essential workers would also continue, but their pay could be held up if the shutdown lasts more than a week.