The House and Senate adjourned Thursday without reaching a compromise that would end the shutdown of roughly 25 percent of the federal government.
The office of House Majority Whip Steve Scalise early Thursday afternoon notified members that “no votes are expected” this week, virtually ensuring the partial government shutdown affecting about 800,000 workers will continue as Democrats take control of the chamber in January.
The Louisiana Republican’s email to all House members likely ends chances of a legislative compromise emerging between President Trump and Congress over billions of dollars in funding for a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, as President Trump is demanding.
Then, the Senate came into session for less than five minutes later Thursday afternoon, and it adjourned until Monday at 10 a.m. for a pro forma — no votes — session. The Senate will then return at 4 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 2.
Democrats take over majority of the House on Thursday, Jan. 3, when the new Congress officially begins its 116th session.
In an interview with CNN Thursday afternoon, House Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows said “things have not progressed.”
“It looks like we could be in for a very long-term shutdown,” the North Carolina Republican said.
Roughly 25 percent of the federal government has been shut down since midnight Saturday, with more than 320,000 workers on furlough home without pay. The rest are being forced to work without pay. The Office of Personnel Management on Thursday morning posted a link to letter templates for federal workers to use in talking with creditors, landlords, or the like during the shutdown.
Trump has been demanding $5 billion for a southern border wall, and that was included in a House-passed bill. But the Senate refused to pass such legislation, with all Democrats and some Republicans holding firm that they will only appropriate barely half of that — between $1.3 billion and $1.6 billion in funds for both border security and disaster relief aid.
With aides working behind the scenes on Capitol Hill — there were no lawmakers to be seen — Trump took to Twitter to voice his criticism of Democratic “OBSTRUCTION of the desperately needed Wall.”
The Democrats OBSTRUCTION of the desperately needed Wall, where they almost all recently agreed it should be built, is exceeded only by their OBSTRUCTION of 350 great people wanting & expecting to come into Government after being delayed for more than two years, a U.S. record!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump)
December 27, 2018
“I don’t see a scenario where the government opens back up until a new Congress is sworn in,” said retiring Rep. Ryan Costello, R-Pa., on MSNBC on Thursday. He added, “The Democratic House is not going to put more money into border security, I don’t think.”
And Trump-allied Republicans don’t want the president to budge.
“I don’t think there’s any situation where the president should give up on that demand,” Meadows said on CNN Wednesday. “The president is very firm in his resolve.”
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