From the words of President Trump, we’re going to have a shutdown. Fox News’s Chad Pergram says that Trump is willing to sign a spending package that includes $2.6 billion for the border wall. Around 10:45 P.M. tonight, the White House instructed agencies to prepare for a shutdown and initiate the proper protocols (via AP):
White House budget chief Mick Mulvaney is instructing agencies “to execute plans for an orderly shutdown” when government funding lapses at midnight.
The partial government shutdown is expected after President Donald Trump wasn’t able to agree with Democrats and Republicans in Congress over funding for his border wall with Mexico. Despite negotiations over the last 48 hours, they remain at an impasse.
Mulvaney says in a memo for government executives that “we are hopeful that this lapse in appropriations will be of short duration” but that employees should report to work when scheduled to “undertake orderly shutdown activities.”
Trump: We are going to have a shutdown. There is nothing we can do about that because we need Democrats to give us their votes..the shutdown hopefully will not last long
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) December 22, 2018
Partial government shutdown now underway. Third version of a shutdown this calendar year
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) December 22, 2018
White House projecting confidence they can secure a deal. But sources on both sides of the aisle on CapHill say they think this could take a while and we could be in for a long shutdown.
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) December 22, 2018
If they forge a deal, a vote to end shutdown would likely start Sunday in the senate. Hse could follow that night, if not in wee hours of Christmas Eve Day. That is reminiscent of the pre-dawn vote on the first version of Obamacare on Christmas Eve Day in 2009.
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) December 22, 2018
Fox is told the President would accept the increase in wall funding to about $2.6b. The administration believes it can still find additional money for the wall squirreled away across various federal programs.
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) December 22, 2018
Fox is told there is possibility that the package, once finalized, could be agreed to via unanimous consent or voice vote in the Senate. But it would definitely get 60 yeas if necessary. Provisions could be plugged into bill Senate proceeded to today
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) December 22, 2018
There is a partial government shutdown and they are fighting over about $900 million. That is the equivalent of pocket lint in Washington, DC.
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) December 22, 2018
So, a total border security/wall package could be about $2.5 billion.
The president hoped that the shutdown wouldn’t last long, but folks from both sides of the divide say brace yourselves for the long haul. The process has already begun.
OUR GREAT COUNTRY MUST HAVE BORDER SECURITY! pic.twitter.com/ZGcYygMf3a
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 22, 2018
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UPDATE: It's official now. Happy Shutdown, everyone:
A partial federal shutdown took hold early Saturday after Democrats refused to meet President Donald Trump’s demands for $5 billion to start erecting his cherished Mexican border wall, a chaotic postscript for Republicans in the waning days of their two-year reign controlling government.
Vice President Mike Pence, Trump son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner and White House budget chief Mick Mulvaney left the Capitol late Friday after hours of bargaining with congressional leaders produced no apparent compromise. “We don’t have a deal. We’re still talking,” Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard Shelby, R-Ala., told reporters.
Democrats have chosen to shut down the government instead of working with Republicans & @realDonaldTrump to secure our border.
— Ronna McDaniel (@GOPChairwoman) December 22, 2018
Chuck Schumer & his colleagues must stop putting partisan politics over the security of our nation, the safety of our communities & the rule of law.