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THE BIG DEAL–Senate rejects two measures to end shutdown: Senate Republicans blocked a stopgap measure to end the partial shutdown on Thursday, the second of two failed efforts to end the longest government shutdown in U.S. history.
Senators voted 52-44 on the legislation, falling short of the 60 votes needed to defeat a filibuster.
{mosads}GOP Sens. Lamar Alexander (Tenn.), Susan Collins (Maine), Cory Gardner (Colo.), Johnny Isakson (Ga.), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and Mitt Romney (Utah) broke ranks and voted to advance the stopgap bill, which would have reopened and funded the quarter of the government currently shuttered through Feb. 8.
The vote came after the Senate also rejected a White House–backed proposal on Thursday that would have exchanged reopening the government for $5.7 billion for the wall. It would have allowed Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals recipients and some temporary protected status holders to apply for a three-year extension of some legal protections, but included new restrictions on asylum seekers. The Hill’s Jordain Carney breaks it down here.
The highlights:
- In a blow to Trump, the White House proposal got less support in the Senate than the stopgap measure, failing in a 50-47 vote.
- The back-to-back failed votes in the Senate guarantees that the partial government shutdown will stretch into next week. More than 800,000 federal workers have been furloughed or forced to work without pay; they will miss their second paycheck on Friday.
The background: Polls have consistently shown that a majority of Americans believe Trump is to blame for the shutdown, and his approval ratings have fallen steadily since the shutdown began on Dec. 22.
Senate Republicans have largely remained aligned with Trump. They are defending a majority of their 2020 Senate seats in red states and don’t want to set up a fight with the president or anger his base.
GOP anger at White House: Even so, GOP senators raged over the shutdown in a lunch with Vice President Mike Pence today, blasting Trump’s strategy and imploring the White House to find a way out.
- Republican senators, including Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.), warned the vice president that prolonging the shutdown is not a smart political strategy.
- One GOP senator said lawmakers told Pence “the shutdown needs to come to an end, this is not a strategy that works [and] we never should have had a shutdown in the first place.”
- “McConnell talked about how we need to bring this process to a close; we should never have had a shutdown; they don’t work; I’ve said this numerous times; I don’t know how many times I’ve told you there’s no education in the second kick of a mule,” said a GOP source familiar with the meeting.
A glimmer of hope? A group of moderate senators are continuing to talk behind closed doors and have floated asking for a temporary CR in exchange for taking up Trump’s border request.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who has been a part of that group, reiterated on Thursday that he still wanted to pass a three-week stopgap bill but they likely needed more buy-in from Pelosi if they were going to gain traction.
Trump said Thursday he would accept a stopgap spending bill to reopen the government but only if it contains a “prorated down payment” for the border wall, hinting at a possible deal to end the shutdown.
Trump’s proposal: Trump told reporters at the White House he would consider legislation with a portion of his desired border wall funding, but did not specify a dollar amount.
“If they come to a reasonable agreement I would support it, yes,” Trump said when asked about talks between Senate leaders.
If that doesn’t work, the White House is preparing a draft of an emergency declaration Trump could issue to secure funding for a wall along the southern border, CNN reported Thursday.
Pelosi wasted no time Thursday rejecting Trump’s proposal for a “down payment” on a border wall as a condition to reopen the government.
Walking off the House floor, Pelosi said the proposal is “not a reasonable” one.
LEADING THE DAY
Ross: ‘I don’t quite understand’ why federal workers need food banks: Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said Thursday that he was confused why thousands of federal workers, who’ve already missed one paycheck, are relying on food banks during the partial government shutdown.
Ross said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” that he didn’t understand why some of the roughly 800,000 unpaid federal workers have flocked to food banks for meals instead of taking out loans against back pay guaranteed by a bill President Trump signed last week.
“I know they are and I don’t really quite understand why,” said Ross, who’s reportedly worth roughly $700 million.
“So the 30 days of pay that some people will be out, there’s no real reason why they shouldn’t be able to get a loan against it, and we’ve seen a number of ads of financial institutions doing that.” I’ve got more on Ross’ comments and the backlash here.
- Hundreds of banks and credit unions have offered low- or no-interest loans against back pay to federal workers who will not be paid until the shutdown ends.
- But thousands of those employees are still struggling to cover basic expenses, and furloughed federal contractors may not receive backpay at all.
- A significant part of the federal workforce lives paycheck to paycheck, and roughly 40 percent of Americans do not have sufficient savings to cover a surprise expense of $400, according to a 2018 report from the Federal Reserve.
Ross’ comments spurred a firestorm of backlash from Democratic lawmakers and Trump administration critics, who panned the wealthy commerce secretary as out of touch.
- Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) called Ross’ remarks “the 21st century equivalent of ‘let them eat cake.’” “They can’t just call their stockbroker and ask them to sell some of their shares. They need that paycheck,” Schumer said in a speech on the Senate floor.
- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) also blasted Ross in similar terms during a Thursday afternoon press conference.
- “Is this the ‘Let them eat cake,’ kind of attitude? Or ‘Call your father for money?’ Or ‘This is character-building for you; it’s all going to end up very well — just as long as you don’t get your paychecks?'” Pelosi asked mockingly, taking an apparent shot at financial aid President Trump received from his father.
Ross backtracks: Ross sought to tamp down the criticism in an interview later Thursday on Bloomberg TV. The Commerce secretary said his comments were only meant to offer guidance to workers facing a “liquidity crisis.”
“We’re aware, painfully aware, that there are hardships inflicted on the individual workers,” Ross added. “All I was trying to do is make sure they’re aware there are possible other things that could help somewhat mitigate their problems.”
Freshman Rep. Jennifer Wexton (D-Va.) invited Ross to visit a Washington food bank so he could get a better sense of why federal workers, including those from her district in the D.C. suburbs, were going there.
“I wanted to extend an invitation to you to visit the Capital Area Food Bank with me this weekend to meet some of these federal employees, hear their stories firsthand, and realize how important it is to end this shutdown as soon a possible before people’s lives are irreparably harmed,” Wexton (D-Va.) wrote in a letter to Ross on Thursday.
Jobless claims fall to 49-year low but spike for federal workers: The fewest numbers of Americans filed applications for unemployment benefits in more than 49 years, reflecting the continued strength of the labor market.
Jobless claims fell 13,000 to a seasonally adjusted 199,000 for the week ended Jan. 19, the lowest level for initial claims since Nov. 15, 1969, when it was 197,000, the Labor Department said.
The four-week moving average of claims, considered a better measure of labor market, smoothed out some volatile numbers, falling 5,500 to 215,000.
However, the number of federal employees applying for unemployment insurance has spiked dramatically. Federal civilian employees filed 25,419 initial jobless claims in the week ending Jan. 12, about 15,000 more than the previous week. The 143 percent jump came around the time that the shutdown became the longest in U.S. history.
GOOD TO KNOW
- Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) will reportedly introduce a proposal to tax wealthy Americans who have more than $50 million in assets.
- Several progressive groups are pressing House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal to immediately request President Trump’s tax returns from the Treasury Department, telling the Massachusetts Democrat that he shouldn’t be slow-walking the process.
- Puerto Rican Gov. Ricardo Rosselló announced Thursday that he would be suspending the payment of water and power bills for federal employees on the island in an effort to ease the impact felt from the ongoing partial government shutdown
- Op-Ed: Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the National Association of Realtors, argues why a ‘dismal December’ for home sales shouldn’t carry over to 2019.
- Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker (D) on Wednesday announced that the state will move up to $100 million from state investments to private banks and credit unions in an effort to boost low-interest loans to federal workers who aren’t getting paid during the partial government shutdown.
- International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde on Thursday said that the global economy is threatened by trade tensions between the United States and China.
ODDS AND ENDS
- A new report is urging the Trump administration to take action against a pair of Chinese telecommunication giants over the firms’ alleged misconduct, including claims that they work on behalf of the Chinese state government.
- A Democratic senator is admonishing the Trump administration for not yet imposing a new round of sanctions on Russia for its poisoning of an ex-Russian spy in Britain as mandated under law.