Shutdown Likely Will Last at Least Until Jan. 3
The partial federal government shutdown that has shuttered the Commerce Department and the International Trade Commission, and is forcing most CBP workers to show up for duty but not get paid, is unlikely to end before Jan. 3. Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., head of the House Freedom Caucus, told CNN that Democrats have dug in and that President Donald Trump's compromises are falling on deaf ears.
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The shutdown went into effect because after the Senate unanimously passed a continuing resolution to fund the government through Feb. 8 that covered a quarter of the federal agencies, the president said he could not accept it, and Republicans in the House of Representatives passed an appropriations bill that included more than $5 billion in southern border wall funding.
Mick Mulvaney, who will be acting White House chief of staff in the new year, told Fox News that Trump "came off of our $5 billion slightly" but that Democrats did not respond to the counter offer. He said he doesn't understand why the two sides can't meet in the middle on a compromise. He said the White House doesn't expect to hear from Democrats until Jan. 3, when the new Congress reconvenes. Asked if the president really would be willing to shut the U.S.-Mexico border if he doesn't get the funding he wants for fencing, as he tweeted Dec. 28, Mulvaney said: "I think he is."
Meadows said that "at this point, it looks like we could be in for a very long shutdown." Incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has said her chamber will vote to reopen the government, but it's not clear whether the Senate will pass the same bill, nor whether Congress will have enough votes to override a veto, if Trump does not accept the funding bill.