ksgf-website-shows-12

On Air

Red Eye Radio

Mon - Friday: 1:00 AM - 6:00 AM Saturday: 1:00 AM - 5:00 AM

Shutdown Due At Midnight After Lawmakers Fail To Reach Deal

Shutdown Due At Midnight After Lawmakers Fail To Reach Deal

Shutdown Due At Midnight After Lawmakers Fail To Reach Deal

WASHINGTON (AP) — White House negotiators left the Capitol late Friday, and the House and Senate adjourned without a spending deal, ensuring a partial government shutdown at midnight with President Donald Trump demanding billions of dollars for his long-promised Mexican border wall.

Trump’s top envoys were straining to broker a last-minute compromise with Democrats and some of their own Republican Party’s lawmakers. But Vice President Mike Pence, incoming White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney and senior adviser Jared Kushner departed after hours spent dashing back and forth, with no outward signs of an agreement.

“We’re going to have a shutdown,” Trump said via video message on Twitter less than three hours from the deadline. “There’s nothing we can do about that because we need the Democrats to give us their votes.”

Trump added, “The shutdown hopefully will not last long.”

The shutdown would disrupt government operations and leave hundreds of thousands of federal workers furloughed or forced to work without pay just days before Christmas. Senators passed legislation ensuring workers receive back pay; it will be sent to the House.

Mulvaney, who is currently the White House budget chief, sent out a memo around 10 p.m. instructing agencies “to execute plans for an orderly shutdown” when the funding lapses at midnight.

At a White House bill signing, Trump said the government was “totally prepared for a very long shutdown,” though hardly anyone thought a lengthy shutdown was likely.

The president tried to pin the blame on Democrats, even though just last week he said he would be “proud” to claim ownership of a shutdown in a fight for the wall. Campaigning for office two years ago, he had declared the wall would go up “so fast it will make your head spin.” He also promised Mexico would pay for it, which Mexico has said it will never do.

Recommended Posts

Loading...