Senate expected to pass bill to end shutdown on Friday

The Senate is expected to take up a three-week stopgap bill to end the partial government shutdown later Friday after President Trump agreed to end the shutdown.

Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said that with “cooperation” the Senate can pass the continuing resolution (CR) on Friday, minutes after Trump announced the deal from the White House. 

“With cooperation, we can pass legislation opening the government and send the [Department of Homeland Security] appropriations bill to a conference with the House today,” McConnell said. 

The House is also expected to pass the CR by unanimous consent Friday afternoon, setting the stage for Trump to sign the bill before day’s end.

{mosads}Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said he expected the CR to “clear the House and be signed by the president today.” 

“As soon as the president signs the legislation to open government, we in Congress will roll up our sleeves. I genuinely hope that this process can produce something that is good for the country and acceptable to both sides,” Schumer said. 

McConnell will technically need to get unanimous consent to pass the stopgap funding measure. But several senators leaving a closed-door GOP lunch predicted it would pass easily by a voice vote, meaning only a few senators will need to be on the floor. 

The agreement locked down by Trump and congressional leadership would open up the quarter of the government that has been closed since Dec. 22 and fund it until Feb. 15. In exchange, Congress would agree to go to conference on the Department of Homeland Security funding bill.

For weeks a bipartisan group of senators have been discussing a three-week CR in exchange for agreeing to take up border funding, including introducing legislation on Thursday to reopen the government for three weeks.

“I would note that after the failed votes, a bipartisan group of 16 senators came to the floor and each one of us indicated a willingness to compromise. And today I am pleased that there is real progress,” said Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), referring to the work of the bipartisan group.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said she was glad there was a deal to reopen the government but blasted the circumstances that allowed a shutdown at all.

“I think it is good that we are standing here on the Senate floor and acknowledging that with the news that the president has just announced that the government will reopen as early as today,” she said. “[But] this never should have happened. … There’s never a good reason to have a government shutdown in the first place.”

The deal comes a day after Schumer and McConnell huddled in the GOP leader’s office after the Senate rejected two funding proposals.

During the meeting, Schumer pitched McConnell on passing a three-week CR with an agreement that Congress would go to conference on the DHS bill, according to a senior Senate Democratic aide.

Schumer and McConnell “then spoke on the phone several times on Friday to discuss plans for how to pass the CR through the Senate and get to conference. Schumer read in Speaker Pelosi, who was on the same page,” the source added. 

— Updated: 3:56 p.m.