(Bloomburg)
A turbulent year is coming to a close in Washington with the 10th day of a partial federal government shutdown and no signs of progress toward a spending deal that President Donald Trump would be willing to sign.
Nancy Pelosi is set to reclaim the speaker’s gavel on Thursday, when Democrats take control of the House of Representatives. Her first order of business is expected to be passing a bill to fund the federal departments that are closed, without providing extra resources for Trump’s border wall.
Year Ends on 10th Day of Shutdown as Pelosi Awaits
It’s unlikely that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell will put the House bill on the Senate floor because he’s said that his chamber will only vote on a deal that all congressional leaders and the president support.
Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer say they won’t consider offers that Trump hasn’t endorsed, after he unexpectedly rejected a spending bill that passed the Senate unanimously before the Dec. 21 fiscal deadline. The impasse -- and the collateral damage from a partially shuttered federal government -- begins the new era of divided government in which Democrats must balance ambitions for a bipartisan agenda with oversight of a president they hope to unseat in 2020.
“Democrats are united against the President’s immoral, ineffective and expensive wall – the wall that he specifically promised that Mexico would pay for,” Drew Hammill, a Pelosi spokesman, said in an emailed statement. “Democrats have made it clear that, given that the President has changed his position so many times, we would not consider any offers from the White House that the President has not publicly endorsed.”
There was little movement over the weekend, aside from a handful of tweets from Trump. Republicans and Democrats said the two sides remain far apart. Richard Shelby, the Alabama Republican who chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee, urged party leaders to come back to the table to find a way forward. Read more