(The American Dossier)
Mike Norris, Co-Editor January 2, 2019
As we begin the New Year at The American Dossier, the partial shutdown of the federal government, which began on December 22nd, is heading into into its twelfth day today making it the fourth longest government shutdown in United States history.
President Trump met with House and Senate leaders from both parties today; the first meeting of its kind since the partial government shutdown began. No progress was made however, because parties from both sides were unable to agree upon terms to reopen the government. When asked to speculate on how much longer he thinks the government shutdown will last, President Trump stated: “It could be a long time, and it could be quickly.”
The government shutdown affects nine departments of the federal government. Some government functions continued to operate through the holidays by utilizing a mixture of funding reserves and private donations. With that funding exhausted, nineteen Smithsonian museums and the National Zoo closed to the public today. Federal workers received their paycheck on December 22nd, 2018, but have no guarantee regarding when they will receive their next scheduled paycheck.
President Trump has long maintained that he would not accept any offer that contained less than $5 billion in barrier funding. Over the weekend, however, Senate Democratic leaders rejected an offer presented by Vice President Pence that contained $2.1 billion in barrier funding and $400 million for other border security tools.
Although the President has indicated a willingness to work with Democrats on the issue, the two sides are unable to even agree as to why the government is even shutdown. House Democrats declare that there simply is no funding for the Presidents southern barrier. As the President points out, however, the requested funding (0.125% of total federal expenditures) is less than the government spends in Afghanistan each month.
Once House Democrats officially take control of Congress, they plan to vote on two proposals to reopen the federal government. The first is a short-term continuing resolution that will fund the Department of Homeland Security through February 8, 2019, and will maintain border wall funding at existing levels, $1.3 billion. The second is a package of six appropriations bills that will fund the remaining closed federal agencies for the rest of the fiscal year (through September 30, 2019). Senate Majority Leader McConnell, however, has already stated that he will not bring legislation to the floor that does not have the support of the President.
President Trump has invited lawmakers to return to the White House on Friday, after leadership races, to continue discussing a path to reopening the government.
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