Senate leaders announce budget deal with huge spending increases

The Senate and House of Representatives have until midnight Thursday (0500 GMT Friday) to pass a stopgap spending measure and send it to the president for his signature, or risk a second shutdown in three weeks.

Senate Democrats eventually relented after McConnell promised to bring an immigration bill to the floor later.

That meant the bill’s passage was not assured in the House and would need some Democratic support.

McConnell and Schumer said the deal was the product of extensive negotiations between both parties and the White House, which reacted positively to developments on Capitol Hill.

Trump portrayed Democrats as the aggressor in that shutdown, but then took the offensive himself earlier this week when he threatened to shut down the government if Democrats didn’t agree to enhanced border security measures. Ryan may need votes from a number of Democrats, who will be under huge pressure not to vote for a bill that does not provide amnesty to illegal aliens.

The Senate compromise still has a perilous path through the US House of Representatives, as fiscal hawks anxious about federal spending and liberals angry over the lack of an immigration deal threaten opposition.

A McConnell lieutenant, Senator John Cornyn, took the floor late Thursday, and in a tense exchange asked for consent to move the vote up to 10.30pm, then 11.00, 11.30 and midnight, in an effort to avoid or at least minimise the shutdown.

Still, information at the congressional district level does not look as promising for Republicans as recent trends in the generic ballot.

The U.S. Senate, in a rare display of bipartisanship, on Wednesday reached a two-year budget deal to raise federal spending by nearly $300 billion, in an attempt to end the kind of squabbling over fiscal issues that has plagued Washington for years.

In a statement, he also said the agreement includes investments in infrastructure and resources to combat the opioid crisis, as well as almost $90 billion in disaster relief for hurricane-stricken Puerto Rico, Florida, Texas and the US Virgin Islands.

The U.S. office of Personnel Management said operation during this shutdown would vary by agencies and advised federal employees to contact their agencies on guidance about how they would report for duty.

Skepticism is always in order on the substance of any agreement between Senate Republicans and Senate Democrats, especially if the subject is spending.

Ryan said House Republicans are happy about military, infrastructure and opioid crisis funding, and ditching the independent payment advisory board for the Affordable Care Act. “It’s not compassionate to bankrupt America”.

Pelosi is under vast pressure from immigration activists and progressive lawmakers in her caucus to take a hardline for “dreamers”, the young undocumented immigrants who could lose protections from deportation under a program that Donald Trump has rescinded.

But House conservatives are objecting to the spending increases, and Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi set a record with a marathon speech – seven hours and counting – demanding that Republicans hold votes on legislation to protect immigrant “dreamers”.

No one who supports this bill can consider himself or herself a deficit hawk or fiscally responsible.

Some House conservatives signaled that would vote against the plan due to the spending increases. “Will we be a better country if we tear apart American families?” But remember, this is the guy who said he would not only eliminate the deficit, but pay off the debt in only 8 years. “We’re going to get it through because most people will support it”, he told Fox News.

The Senate passed a short-term funding bill and cleared the way for a boost to military and domestic spending. But the Senate’s failure to advance the bill will not damage the budget legislation, which is due for a vote later in the day.

The Budget Agreement today is so important for our great Military.