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THE BIG DEAL–Trump agrees to end shutdown without getting wall funding: President Trump said Friday he will back a short-term funding bill to reopen the government that does not include funds to construct a wall along the southern border, bowing to mounting pressure fueled by growing disruptions from the lengthy shutdown.
{mosads}”I am very proud to announce today that we have reached a deal to end the shutdown and re-open the federal government,” Trump said.
The deal, announced by Trump from the Rose Garden of the White House, amounts to a victory for Democrats who have refused the president’s demand for $5.7 billion in wall funding. Trump had said for weeks he would not reopen the government without that money. The Hill’s Jordan Fabian and Brett Samuels break it down here.
- The measure Trump will sign funds the government through Feb. 15 and the president said he would use that period to extract wall funding from lawmakers.
- A bipartisan committee of House and Senate lawmakers will meet to develop a funding proposal for border security, including physical barriers separating the U.S. from Mexico, according to the president.
- If those efforts fail, Trump warned that he may declare a national emergency to circumvent Congress and build the wall. Such a move would almost certainly draw a swift legal challenge.
During his speech, Trump also delivered an extended, apparently ad-libbed warning about the consequences of failing to secure the southern border, The Hill’s Brett Samuels reports.
At one point during his remarks, the teleprompter in the White House Rose Garden stopped as it read “Talk about Human Trafficking.”
For roughly two minutes, Trump gave a graphic description of people being brought across borders against their will in a modern form of slavery, describing women bound and with duct tape covering their mouths.
“They can’t come through the port because if they come through a port people will see four women sitting in a van with tape around face and around their mouth,” Trump said. “We can’t have it.”
Congress is working quickly to end the shutdown…
Senate votes to reopen government: The Senate on Friday afternoon easily advanced a three-week funding bill to fully reopen the federal government hours after President Trump agreed to end the shutdown without securing money for a border wall.
The funding legislation cleared the chamber by a voice vote.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) quickly endorsed the short-term plan on Friday, saying it would provide “room to negotiate a funding bill for the Department of Homeland Security.” McConnell had voted against a two-week CR the previous day.
“Going forward, I hope our Democratic friends will stay true to the commitment they’ve stated constantly over the past weeks, that once government was reopened they’d be perfectly willing to negotiate in good faith on a full-year government funding that would include a significant investment in barriers,” McConnell said.
The House is expected to vote later this evening. Check back at TheHill.com tonight for the latest.
Pelosi says no date yet for State of the Union: Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said there are no plans to move forward with the State of the Union next Tuesday, despite President Trump’s announcement that he would sign a short-term measure reopening the government.
“The State of the Union is not planned now,” Pelosi told reporters at a press conference Friday.
“What I said to the president is when the government is open we will discuss a mutually agreeable date and I’ll look forward to doing that and welcoming the president to the House of Representatives when we mutually agree on that date.”
Pelosi retracted President Trump’s invitation to deliver the address in the House on Wednesday, saying it should take place after the government is open.
Dems rip, mock Trump: After 35 days of a partial government shutdown, the longest in modern federal budgeting history, Democratic lawmakers jumped at the chance to blast Trump after he came away with apparently little to show for it.
- Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) called the spectacle “pathetic” in a Friday tweet, adding that “We are back to exactly where we started.”
- Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.) celebrated a breakthrough in negotiations to end the government shutdown on Friday with a mock-up of the president’s signature book, “The Art of the Deal,” featuring Pelosi on the cover.
How we got here: Trump had been facing mounting political and economic pressure to end the shutdown for weeks, but a confluence of events leading up to Friday might have been enough to break the stalemate.
- More than 800,000 federal employees missed their second paycheck since the shutdown began on Friday, with crucial end-of-the-month expenses closing in next week.
- The federal aviation system has continued to buckle under a slew of FAA and TSA absences, and flights going into New York’s Laguardia Airport were halted briefly Friday.
- Republican senators had started to splinter away from the president. Six GOP senators voted against Trump’s border security proposal Thursday, hours after the conference–including McConnell–raged about the shutdown in a lunch with Vice President Pence.
- Trump’s approval ratings had continued to nosedive amid the shutdown. A majority of Americans place the blame for the shutdown with Trump and congressional Republicans, according to a Washington Post–ABC News poll published Friday.
- And lest we forget about Trump’s other protracted battle, Roger Stone, the politically connected maverick who worked as an informal adviser to Trump’s presidential campaign, was indicted as part of special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe.
Federal workers could get their back pay within days: Federal employees who have been furloughed or forced to work without pay during the shutdown could receive back pay within days of President Trump signing a deal to end the stalemate.
Trump signed a bill last Wednesday ordering federal agencies to issue back pay to workers “at the earliest date possible.” That’s largely dependent on how quickly each agency can process its payroll backlog, according to a senior administration official.
{mossecondads}”Recognizing the urgency of getting federal employees paid quickly, the administration is taking steps to ensure that they receive pay as soon as possible,” said the administration official. “Since specific payroll issues vary by agency, employees can find more information about paycheck details by reaching out to their agency.”
Some federal employees have been told they can expect to be paid soon after the president signs a funding bill.
Recap the week with On The Money
- Tuesday: Shutdown Day 32 | Senate to vote on dueling funding measures | GOP looks to change narrative | Dems press Trump on recalled workers | Kudlow predicts economy will ‘snap back’ after shutdown
- Wednesday: Shutdown Day 33 | Fight over State of the Union | Pelosi tells Trump no speech on Tuesday | Trump teases ‘alternative’ address | Trump adviser warns shutdown could hurt growth | Mulvaney seeks list of vulnerable programs
- Thursday: Shutdown Day 34 | Senate rejects two measures to end shutdown | Trump says he will take wall ‘down payment’ | Pelosi rejects Trump proposal | GOP senators blast Pence on strategy | Ross sparks controversy with comments on furloughed workers