Potential shutdown points to same old Washington tricks

However, such fast action on the part of House Republicans looked more improbable by the hour Thursday as GOP leaders failed to pick up new votes from moderates.

Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer of New York smiles during a media availability after a policy luncheon on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, April 25, 2017.

The “big win”, however, remains elusive, as media critics jaw about the Trump White House’s inexperience with the ways of Washington, DC, and the befuddled House Republicans, who suddenly have to lead after years of obstruction. But White House officials will not actually give any assurances that the payments will continue to be made.

Happy first 100 days, President Trump.

Nonetheless, leaders in both parties projected certainty that a deal would ultimately be reached on the spending legislation, which covers all government agencies and is leftover business from previous year.

But with the battle over health care subsidies still unsettled, there is a growing possibility on Capitol Hill that lawmakers may need to fall back on a week-long funding bill to avoid a shutdown and keep the negotiations moving forward.

Instead, a very short-term extension at existing funding levels is likely.

More than a dozen Republicans, mostly moderates, said they were opposing the legislation.

“I think that, obviously, was a bit of a surprise to some of the Democrats, who now have to calculate whether or not they can fashion some fake controversy for us to fight over to shut the government down and blame us”, Priebus said. Roy Blunt, R-Mo.

But the White House is insistent that the wall must be built, and will not concede there will be a “delay”.

The remainder of the year will only bring more crucial deadlines.

If lawmakers can’t put the final touches on an omnibus spending bill before funding lapses on April 29, they could pass a short, stopgap measure to keep the government running while negotiators hash out the details.

In his bill, the Ensuring Lawful Collection of Hidden Assets to Provide Order (EL CHAPO) Act, Cruz calls for “any amounts forfeited to the U.S. Government as a result of the criminal prosecution of “El Chapo” and other drug lords for border security assets and the completion of the wall along the U.S. -Mexico border”.

Democrats worry that leaving such decisions up to the administration risks the cancellation of the ObamaCare payments given that Republicans are fervently trying to gut the current healthcare law.

The last time a shutdown happened was in 2013 when Congress couldn’t agree on a budget while the GOP tried to defund Obamacare. Senior White House aides and Vice President Mike Pence hosted multiple meetings at the White House to make a deal. He spent a week of valuable time threatening to derail a rarity in contemporary Washington: a fairly reasonable negotiation between the two parties.

But Democrats had threatened to block the bill if money was earmarked for the wall, so its omission may now avert a government shutdown.

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer welcomed Trump’s Monday night comments and noted there were Republican opponents of the wall too. “I certainly hope those dynamics change”.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican from the coal-mining state of Kentucky, threw his weight behind a plan Democrats were insisting on to make a healthcare program for coal miners permanent. “The wall gets built, 100 per cent”, the president said. John Hoeven of North Dakota.

“We all want a secure border, but this is not going to do it”, said Rep. Steve Pearce, the only Republican member of New Mexico’s congressional delegation. However – and you knew this was coming – he later tweeted, “Don’t let the fake media tell you that I have changed my position on the WALL”.