US government shut down for the second time this year

Rand Paul (R-Ky.) blocked a vote on a bipartisan budget agreement that raises spending caps for two years and funds the government through March 23, 2018.

The bill now moves to the House. The reason I’m here tonight is to put people on the spot.

McConnell and Schumer figured they’d get that agreement.

Congress again failed to carry out its most basic duty Thursday, shutting down the USA government after a Republican senator single-handedly held up a key vote in the chamber. But it would be costly and highlight a basic shift in Republican thinking.

The deal raises spending caps on discretionary spending by almost $300 billion over two years.

Trump’s tweets came after Republican Sen.

“Now we have Republicans hand in hand with Democrats offering us trillion-dollar deficits”, he said. “The deficit is going to increase significantly within the next few years because we haven’t done a balanced budget, we’ve just done CRs [continuing resolutions]”. Really who is to blame? Both parties now can claim credit for fully funding the military.

Then it’s on to the House, where voting is expected to be held some time between 4 AM and 6 AM ET.

The rebellion that simmered among Republicans and Democrats over the bipartisan budget agreement boiled over when dogged Senator Rand Paul refused to allow the Senate to act expeditiously to pass the spending measure.

Final passage of the bill would remove some uncertainty from USA financial markets at a turbulent time. The S&P 500 slumped 3.8 per cent. When you control the executive, the legislative, the judiciary, the majority of state houses in this country, basically everything that happens is on your shoulders, the good, the bad, and the ugly, and these shutdowns have been incredibly ugly and they show that Republicans are completely unwilling not only to work with one another, but to ever reach across the aisle and say, “Hey, Democrats”.

The White House’s Office of Management and Budget “is now preparing for a lapse in appropriations”, an OMB official said on condition of anonymity, calling on lawmakers to get the measure to Trump’s desk “without delay”.

Pelosi planned to vote against the bill.

The immigration debate drove the shutdown last month, as Democrats pushed McConnell to agree to prioritize the issue, but it had not been part of more recent budget negotiations, despite Trump’s nudging. Conservatives objected to how much money it spends, and Democrats, including House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, voted against it since it excludes a deal on immigration. Trump announced that program, which protects immigrants from deportation, will end on March 5.

But passage in the House was not assured amid opposition from some Republican and Democratic lawmakers.

“I think this has been a very useful debate”, Mr Paul said shortly before the vote.

But Pelosi said Ryan’s words fell short, accusing him of not having “the courage to lift the shadow of fear from the lives of” Dreamers who face the prospect of deportation.

As a fallback, Flake said he’ll propose extending young immigrants’ protections for three years and providing three years’ worth of border money. Democrats have balked at those terms.

Trump echoed those concerns but said that in order to secure Democratic votes for the package, more spending “on things we do not like or want” was necessary.

Pelosi’s support for the budget deal will be vital because Ryan will nearly certainly not be able to pass spending increases over objections from his conservative flank, including the Freedom Caucus, without relying on Democratic votes. Caucus chairman Mark Meadows called it “eye-popping and eyebrow-raising”.