Senate To Vote On Dueling Government Funding Bills

(The Hill)

Jordain Carney 01/22/19 03:59 PM

Senate leadership on Tuesday struck an agreement to vote on dueling proposals to reopen the federal government.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) set up two votes for Thursday afternoon, both of which will require 60 votes to advance.

The first vote will be on President Trump's proposal to reopen the government, provide $5.7 billion in funding for the border wall and extend legal protections to some immigrants for three years. If that fails, the Senate would then vote on a three-week continuing resolution (CR) to fund a quarter of the government through Feb. 8.

Trump's proposal would need to win over seven Democrats, in addition every Senate Republican, in order to overcome the filibuster. No Democratic senator has said they will back it. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV), the only Democrat still in the chamber who supported a larger Trump-proposed immigration deal last year, is undecided on the new, more narrow effort, according to a spokesman.

Meanwhile, Democrats, who have 47 seats, will need 13 Republicans to advance the stopgap bill. The Senate previously passed a CR in late December to fund the quarter of the government impacted by the shutdown through Feb. 8, only for Trump to come out against the measure because it didn't include additional funding for the U.S.-Mexico border wall.

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