Senate Reaches Deal To End Government Shutdown On Day 3
“The Republican leader and I have come to an arrangement; we will vote today to re-open the government,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer announced in the floor of the Senate on Day 3 of what he called “The Trump Shutdown.”
The agreement will keep the federal government open until February 8, Schumer said, during which time the two parties will keep negotiating on a more permanent arrangement. If a deal is not struck by the February 8 deadline, Schumer said the Senate will immediately move on to consideration of legislation to protect Dreamers impacted by President Trump’s decision to end the DACA executive order.
As part of the deal for a temporary fix, the Children’s Health Insurance Program is guaranteed funding for six years.
In his address today, Schumer noted it was Day 3 of the first government shutdown to occur when one political party controls the entire legislative process — the House, Senate and White House. “And yet, they were unable to keep the government open for the American people,” Schumer scolded.
“The reason the Republican majority had so much trouble finding concensus is they could never get a real grip on what the President of their party wanted to do,” he said, adding, “These days you never know who to deal with when it comes to Republicans.”
Trump, he said, turned away from “not one but two bipartisan compromises, each of which would have averted this shutdown.”
“Trump’s unwillingness to compromise caused The Trump Shutdown and led us to this moment.”
“We will vote today to re-open the government and to continue negotiating,” he said, explaining he is “confident” of the needed 60 votes. Schumer said he was “incredibly grateful” to the bipartisan group that made this happen. “I believe that this group has the potential to return the Senate to the kind of place it should be.”
“This bipartisn group, in a very fine way, filled the glaring absence of the President in these talks.”
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