WASHINGTON — Congress passed a short-term spending bill ending a government shutdown Monday after the Senate spent the weekend paralyzed in a political stalemate.
The Senate and House approved a three-week spending package Monday, paving the way for the government to reopen after a three-day shutdown.
While many lawmakers changed their positions from last week on the short-term spending package, all three members of Vermont’s delegation remained opposed because the resolution did not provide a long-term budget solution and did not address concerns about the deportation of 800,000 immigrants.
The conflict in the Senate hinged on continuation of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which President Donald Trump terminated last year. Democrats demanded that Congress take up legislation to continue the program. The Republican leadership refused to do so.
The logjam showed signs of breaking as senators returned to the Senate floor for a midday vote Monday on the three-week resolution.
Some Democrats nodded or gave thumbs up to reporters as they walked from the room where the caucus had been meeting for the previous hour. Others, like Sanders, gave no indication of where they stood.
As Leahy walked to the floor, a reporter asked if he was ready to vote “yes” on the bill. He responded, “I’m ready to vote.”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer laid out the terms of the deal on the Senate floor — Democrats would vote to reopen the government with a three-week resolution, and continue negotiations on a range of issues. If they don’t reach an agreement in the next 17 days, the Senate will take up a bipartisan bill that would extend the DACA program.
Schumer said he was prepared to vote for the resolution, which was brokered with Senate Republicans. He took a swipe at Trump, saying he had not been in touch with the president since a White House meeting last week.
“The great dealmaking president sat on the sidelines,” he said.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was brief in his remarks before the vote.
“I think if we’ve learned anything during this process, it’s that a strategy to shut down government over the issue of illegal immigration is something the American people didn’t understand and would not have understood in the future,” he said. “So I’m glad we’ve gotten past that and we have a chance now to get back to work.”
The package also includes a six-year authorization of the Children’s Health Insurance Program, as well as [$31 billion in tax cuts].
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/22/us/politics/shutdown-spending-tax-cuts-obamacare.html
The Senate voted 81-18 to advance the bill.
Twenty-seven Democrats, three Republicans and one Independent changed position Monday and voted in favor of the short-term funding package. Neither Vermont senator was among them.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., said he voted against the measure because he believes the public doesn’t want the government to “kick the can down the road.” He objected to using short-term resolutions to fund the government.
“It is time for the governing party to govern, and not to keep turning its back on the major problems facing this country,” Sanders said.
Sanders said the deportation of the people who have DACA status would be “one of the greatest stains, moral stains, in the history of this country.”
“Congress has got to act, Republican leadership has got to act, and I don’t know that February 8th the situation gets any better than it is today,” he said.
He said he hopes Republican leaders will honor the commitment to bring up the DACA extension.
“I mean, you’re dealing with a moral crisis right now,” Sanders said.
Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., vice chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said in a statement he was “relieved” the shutdown was poised to end, but the arrangement “left too much undone.”
Leahy said the package does not include a deal to raise budget caps, funding for community health centers, and more.
“There are many pressing and unfinished priorities, and I cannot give my support to yet another short-term, stopgap measure that, yet again, keeps budget priorities on autopilot, without the ability to adjust for changing priorities since these budget levels were frozen a year ago,” Leahy said.
The Senate gave final approval to the bill Monday afternoon, sending it back to the House.
The House passed the resolution shortly thereafter, 266-150.
Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., voted against it — maintaining the stance he took last week.
“We cannot continue to lurch from one continuing resolution to another,” he said.
Welch criticized the 17-day spending authorization, calling for a long-term budget package.
“Regarding the Dreamers, Senator McConnell has offered weak assurances that the Senate will soon address their status. Speaker Ryan has given no such assurance to the House, not even a weak one,” Welch said.
Republicans gave the outcome a mixed review.
Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., thanked Schumer for reaching an agreement to reopen the government.
“There’s an old expression, how’s it go? Life is simpler when you plow around the stump,” he said. “Chuck decided to plow around the stump, and I want to thank him for that.”
Kennedy said he didn’t feel Republicans had made many concessions on the deal.
“I’m trying to caution folks, this is a baby step in a long journey, because anything we do has got to pass the House,” he said. “And anything that passes the House assuming that it’s not changed, has to be signed by the president.”
Schumer, Kennedy said, was looking for a guarantee that legislation would make it all the way through the process.
“And that’s just unrealistic,” he said.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-SC, a key player in negotiating the deal, was optimistic, but said an immigration bill needs to have broad support across the aisle.
“If you’re going to make the play of trying to pick off a handful of the other side, it’s going to crash and burn,” Graham said. “The only way to get a product that will work for the country through the House and on the president’s desk is for it to be bipartisan, it be closer to 70 votes than 60.”
The deal drew criticism from outside the building. Will Lambek, a spokesperson for the group Migrant Justice, said the organization was disappointed that the final package did not include a DACA fix.
“We are extremely disappointed that Congress has once again punted on their responsibility to protect immigrant youth, leaving hundreds of thousands at risk of deportation,” he said. “Vermonters should be proud that our representatives in Congress showed real backbone in not falling for the empty promises of Mitch McConnell and the Trump White House.”
The Vermont Republican Party was also critical, though for a different reason. Deb Billado, chair of the Vermont GOP, smacked the delegation for engaging in partisanship over a critical funding bill.
“In the Senate, where the shutdown originated, a bipartisan funding agreement won very strong majorities of both Republicans and Democrats,” Billado said in a statement. “Our federal lawmakers, however, were unable to put aside partisan politics, yet again choosing obstruction over leadership. The bipartisan funding bill that Senator Leahy, Senator Sanders, and Representative Welch tried unsuccessfully to block provides urgently needed funding for the nation’s military and defense, vital government services, and an impressive six-year extension for CHIP, the Children’s Health Insurance Program. It’s a shame that Vermont’s representatives couldn’t see their way clear to be responsible, mainstream legislators and do the right thing for Vermonters and all Americans.”
