House Passes Bill To Avert Shutdown; Senate Unlikely To Approve

WASHINGTON, DC — A divided House voted Thursday to prevent a government shutdown after an eleventh-hour deal brought conservatives aboard. But the GOP-written measure faced gloomy prospects in the Senate, and it remained unclear whether lawmakers would be able to find a way to keep federal offices open past a Friday night deadline.

The House voted by a near party-line 230-197 vote to approve the legislation, which would keep agency doors open and hundreds of thousands of federal employees at work through Feb. 16. The measure is designed to give White House and congressional bargainers more time to work through disputes on immigration and the budget that they've tangled over for months.

But most Senate Democrats and some Republicans opposed the measure Thursday night, and the chamber adjourned without voting on the bill. Democrats were hoping to spur slow-moving immigration talks, while a handful of Republicans, including South Carolina's Sen. Lindsey Graham, were pressing for swifter action on immigration and a long-sought Pentagon spending boost.

The Senate will meet again at 11 a.m. Friday. Senate rejection of the House bill would leave the pathway ahead uncertain with only one guarantee: finger-pointing by both parties.

Ahead of a tight deadline, President Trump threw his party's negotiating strategy into doubt Thursday morning when he tweeted that the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) should not be a part of any short-term deal.

"CHIP should be part of a long term solution, not a 30 Day, or short term, extension!" Trump tweeted.

Funding for CHIP expired in September of 2017, though lawmakers have passed stopgap extensions to the program. This week, Republican leadership proposed a short-term continuing resolution to avoid a government shutdown past the weekend, along with another extension for CHIP.

However, despite Trump's Thursday morning tweet, the plan would extend CHIP for six years, not a mere 30 days — even though the rest of the government would only receive short-term funding. Some Democrats have argued that even extending it for six years is insufficient, because passing a 10-year extension would actually reduce the deficit.

Republican Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, the Senate majority whip, pointed out Trump's error on Twitter.

"The current house Continuing Resolution package has a six-year extension of CHIP, not a 30 day extension," Cornyn wrote.

• See also: What Happens In A Government Shutdown? 7 Things To Know

After Trump tweeted, aides from both parties expressed bafflement at exactly what he meant and why he took his position. It was the latest instance that has raised doubts in Washington about the president's unpredictable approach to legislation, policy and political decisions.

Later, a White House spokesperson told reporters that Trump supported the current continuing resolution.

Many Democrats have been calling for a full extension of CHIP since September. Now, as negotiations on protections for undocumented immigrants who were brought to the country as children — previously protected by the Obama-era program known as Deferred Action For Childhood Arrivals or DACA — have fallen through, Republicans attached a CHIP extension to their government funding plan.

Trump began to wind DACA down in September, arguing that it was illegal. However, he pledged that Congress would find a solution for the people covered under the programs, sometimes called "Dreamers," or he would revisit the issue.

Last week, he rejected a compromise by three Democratic and three Republican senators to restore those protections, a deal that included money to begin building the wall and other security steps. Trump's rejection angered the bargainers, and partisan feelings worsened after participants in a White House meeting last week said Trump had referred to African nations as "s---holes."

Many Democrats have said that without an immigration deal in sight, they'll vote against a Republican bill preventing a weekend government shutdown.

"It’s a false choice to say we can’t fund the government, protect Dreamers, and reauthorize CHIP. We can and should do all three," California Democrat Sen. Kamala Harris tweeted Thursday. "What’s preventing us from a bipartisan agreement is the White House."

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told reporters Wednesday that Trump's lack of clarity was a major roadblock to getting a deal.

"I'm looking for something that President Trump supports. And he's not yet indicated what measure he's willing to sign," McConnell said, according to CNBC. "As soon as we figure out what he is for, then I would be convinced that we were not just spinning our wheels going to this issue on the floor but actually dealing with a bill that has a chance to become law and therefore solve the problem."

Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said the White House supports a continuing resolution to keep the government open, though it would prefer a two-year agreement on the budget. Whether a continuing resolution can pass remains to be seen.

Graham, one of the Republican lawmakers who supported the bipartisan immigration deal the president rejected, told a reporter Wednesday that he did not support a continuing resolution.

Ahead of a meeting at the Pentagon, Trump told reporters that he was concerned about the military.

"If for any reason it shuts down, the worst thing is what happens to our military," he said. Trump previously said that shutting down the government is essentially "shutting down our military."

Military service members, though, have always worked through past shutdowns. There is a risk that veterans' benefits could be delayed if a shutdown happens.

As PolitiFact points out, then-Comptroller Bob Hale of the Defense Department told Federal News Radio in 2013 that the government shutdown would not shutter the military.

"We can and will continue to support key military operations," Hale said. "We’re allowed to do that by law, but the law would force us to disrupt many of our support activities. We wouldn’t be able to do most training, we couldn’t enter into most new contracts, routine maintenance would have to stop, and we couldn’t continue efforts to improve contracting and financial management including our audit improvement efforts."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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