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Democrats split over shutdown endgame

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Democrats showed unmistakable signs of splintering Monday as the government shutdown reached the cusp of setting an all-time record.

While many are still demanding their colleagues dig in and fight, a critical mass of Democratic senators appear to be engaged in serious talks about bringing an end to the five-week stalemate. The shutdown is set to overtake the 35-day record Tuesday night.

The divisions among Democrats over whether it’s time to negotiate a way out — or even what that way out should be — comes as Senate Republicans grow increasingly confident about their posture, with top leaders hoping to be able to pass a funding patch by the end of the week that would reopen shuttered agencies.

To do that, they’ll need to flip at least five more Democratic votes. Double that number of senators met behind closed doors Monday night in a Capitol hideaway office.

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), who has been involved in informal bipartisan talks since before the shutdown started, said in a brief interview afterward she hoped there would be a resolution to the shutdown this week.

“We’re having lots of active conversations,” Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) told reporters.

The sense of fatigue with the marathon standoff — and the mounting impacts on everyday Americans, including missing food aid and air travel delays — was acknowledged by at least one senior Democrat.

“I sense that people are tired of this shutdown and all that flows from it,” said Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), the No. 2 party leader, who added that the bipartisan interlocutors he has spoken to “seem more optimistic.”

But Durbin warned the major sticking point for his party — health care — remains unresolved.

The outlines of the agreement under discussion by rank-and-file senators would fall short of what many Democrats have drawn as a red line: a firm bipartisan agreement to extend Affordable Care Act insurance subsidies that will expire Dec. 31.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer showed no signs of backing down during a floor speech Monday. He knocked President Donald Trump and Republicans for not coming to the negotiating table even after the open enrollment shopping period opened Saturday, exposing many ACA enrollees to markedly higher premiums.

“It was a bitter, stressful weekend for millions of Americans, but you would never guess it listening to Donald Trump,” Schumer said of the “sticker shock.”

And amid signs that their colleagues could be preparing to concede, a cadre of Senate progressives warned that Democrats need to keep fighting.

“We have the moral responsibility to stand up and fight for the 15 million people who are about to lose health care,” Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said in an interview Monday. “What the polling tells me, and what I believe to be true, is that the vast majority of the American people are behind us not to give in to Trump or the Republicans.”

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) said he believed Democrats should continue to fight until they get an agreement to extend the subsidies. He predicted that the results of Tuesday’s off-year elections would confirm that “the American people want us to fight for them.”

“Donald Trump and the Republicans need to come to the negotiating table,” added Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.).

In another signal of impending movement, some rank-and-file Senate Democrats who have been involved in the bipartisan talks tried to sell senior House Democrats on a potential off-ramp to the shutdown, according to two people granted anonymity to discuss the private conversations.

But many House Democrats, especially in leadership circles, are still opposed to any deal that doesn’t include a concrete legislative solution to extending the ACA subsidies. The developing Senate deal would likely include the promise of a Senate floor vote that would probably fail, paired with a possible framework for subsequent bipartisan negotiations.

“It won’t be pretty if they vote ‘yes’ over a promised process versus outcome,” one of the people involved in the conversations said, describing the view of many House Democrats. “But they’re trying.”

In addition to Shaheen and Slotkin, Democratic Sens. Chris Coons of Delaware, Mark Kelly of Arizona, Gary Peters of Michigan, Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire, Jon Ossoff of Georgia, Catherine Cortez Masto and Jacky Rosen of Nevada attended the Monday night meeting, as well as Maine Sen. Angus King, an independent who caucuses with Democrats.

Some who attended, but not all, are also part of the bipartisan group of senators who talked through the weekend. Their conversations have focused on passing a new funding patch to reopen agencies, reaching an understanding on moving full-year appropriations bills and scheduling a vote on ACA subsidies. Republicans have also pledged that Trump will meet with Democrats after the shutdown ends.

Cortez Masto and King have already voted multiple times to advance a House-passed stopgap spending bill that would fund the government through Nov. 21. But there is widespread agreement that this measure is now out of date and will have to be revised to extend the deadline into mid-December at least.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Monday he hoped to be able to send a revised stopgap back to the House by the end of the week. Under the most optimistic timeline, if the Senate can strike a deal and pass an amended bill by Thursday, the House would return early next week to vote on sending it to Trump, according to three people granted anonymity to discuss private deliberations.

But there are divisions on the Republican side that could complicate that plan.

Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins (R-Maine) is pushing for a new deadline of Dec. 19, which she hopes would build momentum to pass a package of full-year funding bills in the coming weeks. She and Sen. Katie Britt (R-Ala.), along with other GOP appropriators, have in recent days been trying to build support for such a plan with Democrats.

But House and Senate GOP leaders are pushing hard against a December deadline, as they face pressure from conservative hard-liners wary of a holiday jam.

“You can’t go to December,” Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) said in an interview Monday. “It has to be longer.” Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) wrote on X Monday that he believed the new deadline has to go past Jan. 15.

Republicans could be forced to swallow the December date if it’s the only compromise available in the Senate, but Democrats need to get on the same page, too. Durbin didn’t close the door Monday to a January deadline, but Shaheen said she wanted it to end in December.

“Those people who are arguing for a January CR are those people who want a full-year continuing resolution,” Shaheen said, referring to an extension of current funding levels that would sideline appropriators. “I don’t think that’s in anybody’s interest.”

Collins was among those who struck an optimistic note Monday. “It’s too soon to declare that this nightmare of a shutdown is over, but I’m very cautiously hopeful,” she told reporters.

Later, though, Collins added, “who knows — it could all fall apart again.”

Calen Razor and Katherine Tully-McManus contributed to this report.

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Congress

Congress has 10 days to cut a DHS funding deal. Don’t hold your breath.

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Congress has 10 days to prevent another shutdown — this one exclusively affecting the Department of Homeland Security. There’s not much optimism about a deal.

At issue is one of the thorniest issues in national politics — federal immigration enforcement, including new guardrails for agencies and repercussions for the local jurisdictions that refuse to cooperate with them.

Already, Republicans are rejecting central demands from Democrats, including tightening warrant requirements and banning federal agents from wearing masks. Democrats are pouring cold water on a GOP push to target so-called “sanctuary cities.”

Senate Majority Leader John Thune warned Tuesday that getting an agreement to President Donald Trump’s desk by the new Feb. 13 deadline is an “impossibility.”

“We’ve got a very short timeframe in which to do this, which I argued against,” he said, referring to his opposition to the two-week DHS punt Democrats insisted on.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, meanwhile, said Tuesday that another short-term patch was “off the table” for Democrats.

Together those comments portend a potentially lengthy shutdown that would disproportionately impact the DHS functions that don’t involve immigration enforcement, including TSA, FEMA and the Coast Guard. That’s because agencies like ICE and Border Patrol that have been at the center of the Democratic uproar received funding through the domestic policy megabill Republicans enacted in July.

That reality had a critical mass of Senate Democrats ready to swallow full-year DHS funding last month that held agency budgets flat and passed the House with only seven Democratic votes. But that plan evaporated on Jan. 24, when DHS agents killed 37-year-old Alex Pretti on the streets of Minneapolis and sparked bipartisan calls for new strictures on the Trump administration.

Thune and other Republicans are already warning that they believe they will need to buy more time after the Feb. 13 deadline. Negotiations over an immigration enforcement deal have largely been on hold, according to several senators, as the House wrestled with the larger spending package that finally passed Tuesday.

So far, Republicans and Democrats can’t even agree on who will be doing the negotiating. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is putting the onus on Thune. But Thune and other Republicans believe any viable deal will need to be negotiated primarily by the White House while keeping congressional Republicans “engaged.”

Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) said Tuesday that a deal would be difficult “without Trump deciding to drag Republicans in a direction that is normally uncomfortable for them.”

“But that’s different from John Thune just declaring that he’s out,” he added. “The majority leader can’t take himself out of the negotiation.”

A lengthy DHS shutdown could be uncomfortable quickly for both parties. While ICE and Customs and Border Protection would largely have a free hand to continue immigration enforcement, the Coast Guard and TSA would lose their appropriations — potentially snarling airports and threatening paychecks for an entire military branch. The Secret Service and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency would also be affected.

Plenty of members are skeptical there will be a deal at all, given Congress’ perennial struggle to reach an agreement on anything even tangentially related to immigration.

“I have to say that I’m a little skeptical of this entire enterprise,” Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) said. “I’m a little skeptical of the entire project here of trying to lard up an appropriations bill that funds critical agencies with a whole bunch of statutory restrictions.”

Rep. Glenn Ivey (D-Md.) said of the incipient negotiation, “I can’t say it feels like good faith.”

Democrats have outlined several key demands for any negotiations and are expected to formally present a proposal “very shortly,” according to Schumer.

But while Republicans have expressed openness to some of the Democratic proposals, such as body cameras and deescalation training, there is broad opposition to requiring immigration officers to obtain judicial warrants instead of administrative warrants before seeking apprehensions. Many, including Speaker Mike Johnson, also oppose requiring federal agents to remove masks, arguing it would be a possible safety threat.

“I can tell you that we are never going to go along with adding an entirely new layer of judicial warrants,” Johnson said Tuesday. “It is unimplementable. It cannot be done, and it should not be done. It’s not necessary.”

Republicans, meanwhile, are pushing for language cracking down on “sanctuary cities” that don’t comply with ICE and CBP to be included in any agreement that includes new restrictions on those agencies. Other Republicans are mulling trying to attach bigger immigration provisions, including increasing penalties for immigrants who cross the border illegally or re-enter the country illegally.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) used an Oval Office bill signing with Trump Tuesday to make his pitch for a sanctuary cities crackdown as part of any negotiation to extend DHS funding.

“If you want a debate on how to solve this problem, show up next week,” he said.

Trump encouraged the push: “I hope you’re going to press that very hard,” he told Graham.

But the policies Graham and other Republicans are proposing — such as imposing criminal penalties on state and local officials who “willfully interfere” with immigration enforcement — have long been a nonstarter for Democrats.

Sen. Dick Durbin, the No. 2 Senate Democrat, said it already would be “difficult” to get his caucus to support another funding punt, noting that roughly half of his Democratic colleagues already voted against the last spending package.

And trying to link sanctuary cities to the debate over immigration enforcement tactics, Durbin added, is “not realistic.”

“There’s so many different versions of sanctuary law in these communities and states,” he said. “What we’re talking about is funding this agency, but making sure there are reforms before funding.”

Other Senate Democrats who voted for the spending deal last week — including Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), the top Democrat on the Appropriations Committee — are already warning that Republicans shouldn’t count on their votes again for another punt.

Another senior Democratic appropriator, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, said she believed there was enough time to get a deal if negotiators were “committed.”

“But it would help if they start negotiating,” Shaheen said.

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Congress

Powell pardon wouldn’t end Fed blockade, Tillis says

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A presidential pardon of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell would not end Sen. Thom Tillis’ one-man blockade of central bank nominees, the North Carolina Republican said Tuesday.

Only the Justice Department resolving its investigation into Powell’s Senate testimony on a massive Fed renovation project would suffice, he added, doubling down on his intention to use his vote on the Senate Banking Committee as a bulwark against any attempt to dilute the bank’s independence.

Tillis is the main obstacle to the swift confirmation of Kevin Warsh, President Donald Trump’s nominee to replace Powell as Fed chair. He has vowed to oppose any Fed nominee until the Powell investigation ends.

A pardon could be a fast and definitive way for Trump to end any legal peril for Powell, but Tillis called the idea “silly” and a “mistake” because it could imply that Powell is guilty of committing perjury during his appearance last year before the Banking Committee.

“A pardon to me almost validates the whole notion for the investigation,” Tillis said. “If they think they’ve got a valid case, then we’ll just see it through to the end.”

With Republicans holding a 13-11 majority on the Banking panel, Tillis’ opposition is enough to prevent Warsh from getting advanced out of committee unless he gets support from Democrats on the panel.

Tillis said Tuesday that he thought Warsh would be a “fine” Fed chair “at some point in the future if not this Congress, then the next Congress, if they don’t get this investigation done.”

“I’m not budging one inch,” he added. “This is foundational to Fed independence and if you reward this sort of behavior and there’s no compelling evidence that could convince me or a jury that he’s guilty of it then you’ve got to stand on Fed independence.”

Trump batted down a question Monday about whether he would ask prosecutors to drop the Powell case in order to clear a path for Warsh. He instead told reporters that Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney for D.C., would “take it to the end and see.”

Responding to Trump’s remarks, Tillis said it showed “an area where we’re in agreement this week — we’re both willing to go all the way.”

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Congress

Congress ends shutdown, approves $1.2T in funding — and sets up DHS cliff

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Congress approved a spending package Tuesday afternoon that secures funding for the vast majority of federal agencies through September, ending the second government shutdown in the span of four months.

But what’s left unfinished — funding for the Department of Homeland Security — will be a doozy, with partisan tensions over President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement agenda threatening another lapse for the embattled department that also includes TSA, FEMA and other crucial agencies.

The package the House passed in a bipartisan 217-214 vote Tuesday afternoon only funds DHS through next week. Democrats are refusing to support months of additional cash until Republicans agree to rein in the actions of ICE and Border Patrol agents following the fatal shootings last month of two U.S. citizens in Minnesota.

If Republicans don’t concede to enacting significant new mandates for DHS by the new Feb. 13 deadline, the department many Democrats have called “rogue” will face another funding lapse or short-term patch.

“We have a list that we want done, and we aren’t settling for half-measures,” Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.), the No. 3 party leader, told reporters Tuesday. He warned that if Senate Majority Leader John Thune and Speaker Mike Johnson “don’t want to come to the table and negotiate real reform, then they’re going to have to explain to the American public why they’re shutting down agencies.”

Trump is expected to swiftly sign the legislation, ending the partial government shutdown that began early Saturday morning after the Senate passed the altered package, punting the measure back to the House.

By advancing the trillion-dollar package, Congress has approved more than 95 percent of the government funding it approves each year to run federal agencies, after clearing full funding for some agencies in November and another slate in January.

Under the legislation that now awaits the president’s signature, the Pentagon and all remaining domestic agencies besides DHS will get new funding levels through the end of the fiscal year, which started with the longest government shutdown in U.S. history.

“We finalized true, bipartisan, bicameral bills to fully fund our government in a member driven, district focused way,” House Appropriations Chair Tom Cole (R-Okla.) said on the House floor. “Funding the government is not an optional exercise. It’s the most basic duty we have in Congress.”

Only 21 Democrats voted yes on passage, highlighting the challenge leaders face over the next 10 days in negotiating new immigration enforcement rules that can attract enough Democratic support for funding DHS into the fall.

“I refuse to send another cent to Stephen Miller or Kristi Noem,” Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) said this week. “They are undermining our Constitution, and the department they run is murdering American citizens in the streets.”

To ensure Democratic leaders on both sides of the Capitol are aligned heading into negotiations with Republicans over changes to DHS immigration operations, Jeffries is set to meet Tuesday afternoon with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.

House Democrats are demanding that Jeffries have a seat at the bargaining table after many groused this week about the altered funding package Senate Democrats brokered with the White House.

“They need to talk to Hakeem — the House and Senate are equal partners,” Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.) said in an interview.

House Democrats contend that they have a better understanding of Trump’s immigration enforcement actions in communities throughout the country, as well as the sentiment of Americans.

“We are the ones that are closest to the anger and the frustration of our constituents,” Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) said in an interview. “We need [Senate Democrats] to start negotiating with us and carrying out our demands instead of constantly caving to Republicans.”

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