Bill to end U.S. government shutdown clears key hurdle in Senate

Paul threw a wrench in the works by objecting to a rapid vote.

Paul is protesting that the bill would usher in the return of trillion-dollar budget deficits.

“I’m not advocating for shutting down the government”. A final vote would follow. “We support funding for our military, but growing the size of government by 13 percent adds to the swamp instead of draining it”.

Vice President Mike Pence’s trip to the Olympics will be unaffected by a potential USA government shutdown. That omission largely explains why a quarter of Senate Democrats and a third of House Democrats voted no, and why immigration now because the next battle.

Minutes after midnight, when the short-lived shutdown began, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management sent a notice to millions of federal employees telling them to check with their agencies on whether they should report to work on Friday. If it is not, the result would be an actual shutdown, the second of 2018, after a three-day shutdown in January.

Outside conservative groups such as the Tea Party Patriots helped power the Republican takeover of the House in 2010 in part by pushing to rein in federal spending following the 2007-2009 recession.

“‘I talked to him this afternoon”, he said.

The bill does nothing on immigration. Still, leaders expected they could thread the needle to find the votes to pass the bill in both the House and Senate.

Paul’s call clearly angered Republican leaders – Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky is holding up action in the Senate, demanding a vote to cut back the measure’s spending totals. The aide requested anonymity because leadership deliberations are secret.

As Paul stood firm, the Trump administration announced it was preparing for a “lapse” in appropriations, indicating a short shutdown.

“The Office of Management and Budget is now preparing for a lapse in appropriations”, an OMB official said.

The bill also keeps the government running until late March.

The brief shutdown in Washington came at a sensitive time for financial markets.

The Senate approved the measure earlier on Friday morning. “But I would say, really, primarily, this is coming from Congress. Leadership in Congress in both the House and Senate has chose to move forward”. No. 3 House GOP leader Steve Scalise of Louisiana says Republicans still disagree about “how to handle this number of people that Barack Obama encouraged to come in here illegally”.

Lawmakers are facing a midnight deadline. By the time the Senate passed the deal just before 2 a.m. the government had been officially shuttered for almost two hours.

Paul brushed off pleas from Senate leaders.

The temporary spending bill under consideration incorporates the major budget deal struck Wednesday between Senate leaders on both sides of the political aisle.

“Are we to be conservative all the time or only when we’re in the minority?” he said.

The budget accord appeared to be headed for quick passage in the Senate on Thursday with a strong endorsement from Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Democratic leader Chuck Schumer and backing from President Donald Trump.

That’s according to Oregon Democratic Rep. Kurt Schrader. The setback left party members divided.

The bill is opposed by House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi because Republican House leaders will not guarantee her that they will allow a debate later on about taking steps to protect about 700,000 “Dreamer” immigrants from deportation.

The massive two-year budget deal proposed by Senate leaders Wednesday raises budget caps by $300 billion in the next two years, increases the debt ceiling and offer up almost $90 billion in disaster relief for hurricane-ravaged Texas, Florida and Puerto Rico.

The White House is scheduled to release its budget blueprint for the next fiscal year on Monday, and spokesman Raj Shah said the outline would be an attempt to move the country “toward a path to restoring fiscal responsibility”.

President Donald Trump congratulated Congress for passing a two-year budget agreement on Friday, painting the massive bill as a win for the military.

The underlying bill includes huge spending increases sought by Republicans for the Pentagon along with a big boost demanded by Democrats for domestic agencies. Their priorities are lower taxes and higher military spending, and they are willing to accede to growth in entitlements and other government programs if that is what it takes to secure their first two goals.