On Sunday, party leaders and rank-and-file senators spent the day trying to put together a deal that would see the reopening of the U.S federal government that has been in shutdown for two days. The painful truth is that the shutdown will nonetheless continue into its third day.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced on Sunday that the chamber would vote on Monday afternoon a plan to fund the government till 8th February. McConnell said that he would take up legislation to protect some of the young immigrants who are at risk of deportation if no deal is reached to address the government’s status by the time funding expires in early February.
The Democrats, however, were not having it. They are still discontent with the terms of the deal – despite McConnell imploring the Senate to vote on Sunday and end the shutdown. Chuck Schumer stated that more negotiations were needed and are underway. He spurned McConnell’s request to push the vote till Monday when hundreds of thousands of federal workers will be furloughed. If there is no progress in the two party leaders’ talks, then Monday’s vote is likely to fail.
The Senate Republicans will meet on Monday 11 a.m. to discuss the game plan. The Sunday night talks featured rounds of negotiations between the two party leaders. There were also a group of deal-making senators who from both parties who, desperate to re-open the government, took a proposal o the party leaders after a 90-minute meeting on Sunday afternoon.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said that it would be counterproductive to keep the shutdown going given McConnell’s stated goal of an immigration vote. He suggested that McConnell’s Sunday comment would have to suffice for the Democrats. Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) who will be meeting with roughly 20 senators in both parties said that he hoped the group would meet again. He said that the Senate needs to act independently of the White House to resolve the current crisis.
McConnell and Schumer met privately on Sunday for over 30 minutes, but sources say that Schumer did not speak to the president. Despite McConnell’s public thaw after two days of bashing Democrats, it is unsure whether he will win over their votes in Monday’s vote. There is still tension regarding the outcome of Monday’s vote, as hundreds of thousands of federal workers face being furloughed.
