Shutdown Day 2: Bipartisan Group Eyes a Compromise Before Monday

WASHINGTON — Members of Congress pushed Sunday to end a 2-day-old government shutdown, with a bipartisan group of senators meeting behind closed doors in search of a compromise deal even as both parties continued to publicly trade blame.

The gathering of senators from the two parties offered a reason for cautious optimism that a deal could be reached before the workweek began, though it was unclear if the two sides could come together by then.

Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., the majority leader, said he would move ahead with a procedural vote on a temporary spending bill, which would occur by 1 a.m. Monday, and Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., offered an assurance that his chamber would pass the measure.

“This shutdown is going to get a lot worse tomorrow. A lot worse,” McConnell said on the Senate floor. “Today would be a good day to end it.”

The best hope for a breakthrough appeared to reside with a group of about 20 senators from both parties who were meeting throughout the weekend to try to hammer out a compromise to present to McConnell and the Democratic leader, Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York.

The group was discussing a plan in which the government would stay open through early February, to be coupled with a promise that the Senate would tackle the issue of immigration in the coming weeks. Several members signaled optimism Sunday afternoon, but it remained to be seen if they could nudge Schumer and McConnell to reach an agreement.

“Now would be a good time for the leaders to talk,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. If a resolution is not reached by Sunday night, he said, “I am really worried about where this thing goes, because it’s going to get nastier in terms of rhetoric.”

McConnell and Schumer met in the late afternoon in a private room just off the Senate floor, but no resolution was immediately forthcoming.

A major lingering question was how such a compromise might pave the way for passage of legislation to address the fate of hundreds of thousands of young unauthorized immigrants, known as Dreamers, who were brought to the country illegally as children. Their status is in jeopardy after President Donald Trump moved last year to end an Obama-era program, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, that shields them from deportation. Trump gave Congress until early March to find a resolution to the issue.

For as long as the government is closed, the White House has said it will not entertain demands on immigration. But senators in the bipartisan group have been discussing a compromise in which there would be some kind of promise that the Senate would address immigration in the coming weeks.

“We want to see a commitment to take up immigration, with a belief that we’ll get to a good result for Dreamers,” said Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va.

But the talk of promised action on immigration raised its own questions, including whether a pledge from McConnell would be a significant enough assurance for Senate Democrats who are worried about the fate of the Dreamers. For instance, a promise of a Senate vote on a stand-alone immigration bill would still leave the possibility that the measure would die in the House, potentially leaving the DACA issue unresolved.

In a reflection of the frustration on both sides, Trump, who has largely stayed out of negotiations since the government shut down early Saturday, began the day by advising Senate Republicans to use the “nuclear option” to change Senate rules and cut Democrats out of the process if necessary.

“Great to see how hard Republicans are fighting for our Military and Safety at the Border,” Trump wrote on Twitter. “The Dems just want illegal immigrants to pour into our nation unchecked. If stalemate continues, Republicans should go to 51% (Nuclear Option) and vote on real, long term budget, no C.R.'s!”

Leaders from both parties quickly dismissed the idea, but Democrats wasted no time in pointing the finger back at Trump.

Schumer’s eleventh-hour negotiations with Trump on Friday have proved to be a focal point for both parties as they have cast blame. On Sunday, Schumer said that during the White House meeting, Trump had “picked a number” that he wanted in order to fund a border wall and that Schumer had accepted in exchange for protections for Dreamers. Hours later, he said, the White House walked away from a tentative agreement.

“I essentially agreed to give the president something he has said he wants, in exchange for something we both want,” Schumer said on the Senate floor. “The president must take yes for an answer. Until he does, it’s the Trump shutdown.”

If the government stays shut, hundreds of thousands of federal workers will be furloughed Monday.

McConnell has proposed a temporary spending bill that would expire Feb. 8, about a week earlier than the date set in a bill passed last week by the House. Any deal would most likely need the support of at least a dozen Senate Democrats, since the chamber’s procedural rules require 60 votes. The proposed Feb. 8 expiration date was designed to at least partially accommodate Democrats’ demand that any temporary funding extension be shorter than the House proposal. But the more significant piece of any possible deal to end the shutdown would be what other strings are attached — particularly when it comes to the politically contentious issue of immigration.

“We’ve got a hard stop, if you will, late this evening, with a vote,” said Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, referring to the scheduled 1 a.m. procedural vote. Murkowski is a member of the bipartisan group trying to bring about an end to the shutdown.

Another member of the group, Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D., warned, “Resolution gets more difficult the longer we wait.”

Lawmakers in the House were mostly left to watch and wait as their Senate colleagues tried to come together.

Ryan said Sunday that House Republicans had agreed to pass McConnell’s stopgap proposal if it made it out of the Senate. The onus of ending the shutdown, he said, was on Senate Democrats, and he urged them to vote to reopen the government and then restart separate immigration negotiations.

“This is solely done by the Senate Democrats,” Ryan said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” “It’s absolutely meaningless. They shut down the government over a completely unrelated issue.”