WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate leaders were scrambling on Friday to save a bipartisan spending deal and prevent a partial government shutdown this weekend as some Republicans pushed back on a rare deal between President Donald Trump and Democrats.
Democrats who are demanding new restrictions on federal immigration raids across the country struck an agreement with Trump on Thursday to separate funding for the Department of Homeland Security from a broad government spending bill and give Congress two weeks to debate the issue. That agreement came after irate Democratsthreatened to block the entire spending bill and trigger a shutdown in the wake of the deaths of two protesters at the hands of federal agents in Minneapolis.
Trump said he didn’t want a government shutdown and encouraged members of both parties to cast a “much needed Bipartisan ‘YES’ vote.” But passage of the package was delayed Friday as some Republican senators pushed back on the deal, warning that Republicans should not give away too much leverage on the border issue.
ICE agents and Border patrol agents have been “slandered and smeared,” Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said in a speech on the Senate floor. “And to the Republican party, where have you been?”
Graham said said he would hold up the deal, for now, unless Republican leaders would give him a vote on his bill preventing local governments from resisting the administration’s immigration policies.
“Guarantee me that vote and we move forward,” Graham said.
Graham has also opposed House language repealing a new law that gives senators the ability to sue the government for millions of dollars if their personal or office data is accessed without their knowledge.
Leaders try to nail down votes
It was unclear if any Democrats would object. Leaving the Capitol just before midnight on Thursday, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said there were “snags on both sides” as he and Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York tried to work through any objections.
“Hopefully people will be of the spirit to try and get this done” on Friday, when the Senate was scheduled to reconvene in the late morning.
Schumer said Friday morning that “time is of the essence” and “the abuses of ICE have to come to an end.”
Even if the Senate passes the funding measure, it would need House approval before becoming law. The House is not expected to return until Monday, raising the possibility of at least a temporary partial shutdown over the weekend.
The Trump administration is expected to issue guidance to federal agencies on how to proceed.
Rare bipartisan talks
The unusual bipartisan talks between Trump and Schumer, his frequent adversary, came after the fatal shooting of 37-year-old Alex Pretti in Minnesota last weekend and calls by senators in both parties for a full investigation. Schumer called it “a moment of truth.”
“What ICE is doing, outside the law, is state-sanctioned thuggery and it must stop,” Schumer said. “Congress has the authority — and the moral obligation — to act.”
The standoff has threatened to plunge the country into another shutdown, just two months after Democrats blocked a spending bill over expiring federal health care subsidies. That dispute closed the government for 43 days as Republicans refused to negotiate.
That shutdown ended when a small group of moderate Democrats broke away to strike a deal with Republicans. But Democrats are more unified this time after the fatal shootings of Pretti and Renee Good by federal agents.
