President Trump and Republican leaders in Congress tamped down a conservative rebellion and pushed a stopgap spending bill through the House on Thursday evening, setting up a shutdown showdown in the Senate just hours before the Friday deadline.
Senate passage is far from guaranteed, with both Democrats and a smattering of Republicans saying they can’t stomach another stopgap spending bill without including an amnesty for illegal immigrant Dreamers.
Republican leaders were already warning of a “Schumer shutdown,” hoping to pin blame on Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer of New York should he and his Democratic colleagues lead a filibuster to block the bill, which would keep the government funded through Feb. 16 and extend the life of the Children’s Health Insurance Program by six years.
“The only people standing in the way of keeping the government open are Senate Democrats,” said House Speaker Paul D. Ryan, Wisconsin Republican. “Senate Democrats do not oppose anything in this bill. They are just holding this critical funding hostage for a deal on a completely unrelated immigration issue.”
Rank-and-file Democrats, though, gave a long list of things they wanted to see in the continuing resolution, known as a “CR” in Capitol-speak. Foremost among those demands was an immigration deal, but they also wanted a pension bailout for some union workers, a different version of the children’s health program and a boost in funding for domestic needs.
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