McConnell Shoots Down Report Senate Leaders Struck Deal to End Shutdown Without Wall

Hours from deadline, US Senate to vote to avert shutdown
AFP
Matthew Boyle
Washington, D.C.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell shot down reports that Senate leaders had struck a deal that could end the partial government shutdown that is now the longest in U.S. history. The reported deal, which would have reopened the federal government until Feb. 8, had reportedly been agreed to by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.

The New York Times reported on Tuesday afternoon:

The Senate will vote Thursday on two separate bills that would bring an immediate end to the partial government shutdown: one backed by President Trump that includes $5.7 billion for his border wall and another that would simply extend funding for shuttered agencies through Feb. 8. The plan, a compromise between Senator Mitch McConnell, the majority leader, and Senator Chuck Schumer, the Democratic leader, offers the first hint of a path out of the partial shutdown, which is now in its fifth week and has left 800,000 federal workers without pay. The two announced it Tuesday afternoon on the Senate floor.

The deal would have set up a two-vote structure on the Senate floor on Thursday. The first vote would have been on the plan that President Donald Trump proposed this past Saturday, a plan that was expected to fail on the Senate floor. The second vote would have reportedly been on the compromise.

The Times quoted Schumer as saying this provides a path to ending the shutdown.

“People are saying isn’t there a way out of this mess, isn’t there a way to relieve the burden on the 800,000 federal workers not getting paid, isn’t there a way to get government services open first and debate what we should do for border security later?” Schumer said. “Well, now there’s a way.”

But as fast as the report surfaced the deal was shot down by McConnell and the White House:

It remains to be seen where this fight goes from here.

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