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Govt. risks midnight shutdown
Democratic sources: Government shutdown unlikely to happen
(CNN)A
threat of a government shutdown appeared to have ended Friday evening,
according to Democratic senators and aides, who believe they made their
political points by holding up a funding bill that must pass by midnight
to avert a shutdown.
The
development came after a day of back-channel negotiations aimed at
alleviating concerns from coal-state Democrats who wanted a longer
extension of expiring health benefits for retired coal miners. The
Senate will soon vote to pass the funding bill on the eve of the
shutdown deadline and adjourn the 114th Congress.
"I think we made our point," said Sen. Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat and incoming Senate minority leader.
The
battle centered on how long the government should extend health
benefits for retired coal miners, as the Democrats called for an
extension lasting one year, rather than the four months in the current
proposal. And it amounted to the most intense partisan squabble on
Capitol Hill since the general election, where Democrats struggled to
win over white, working-class voters.
Democratic
Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, who faces reelection in 2018 and is
under consideration for a job in Donald Trump's administration, took to
the Senate floor Friday evening and demanded that his colleagues block
the funding bill, which is needed to keep the government open past
midnight.
"We've
been working and fighting and really clawing for this," Manchin said.
"But we've got some friends on the other side who believed it wasn't an
emergency."
Still, Democrats privately conceded they were unlikely to win over the 41 votes needed to shut the government down.
During
a caucus meeting Thursday, Senate Democratic leaders and coal-state
Democrats agreed to use a threat of a shutdown to bring attention to the
issue and push for a longer extension in January, a senior Democratic
aide said.
"Our intention was never, never, ever to shut this place down," Manchin told CNN.
Added Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia: "We're not going to shut down the government on this issue."
The
late-evening developments come as Senate Republicans and Democrats
engaged in behind the scenes negotiations to try to head off a shutdown
at midnight.
"I'm hopeful we'll
wrap it up this evening but I don't have anything to announce yet," Sen.
John Cornyn of Texas, the second ranking Senate Republican, told
reporters.
In a sign of possible
progress that a disruption to government services could be averted,
Cornyn said discussions were underway between GOP leaders and Manchin of
West Virginia, the lead Democrat pressing for changes to the health
insurance program.
"We're working
through third parties. Third party negotiators," Cornyn said. "I haven't
talked to him directly but there are conversations taking place between
leadership on the Democratic side and this side."
Republicans
argue McConnell, who represents miner interests in his home state of
Kentucky, has already committed to work to extend the health insurance
for a full year, which is the central demand of Manchin and the
Democrats backing his effort. Republicans note that McConnell initially
pushed to get a one year extension into the funding bill and has spoken
on the floor about his desire to extend it that long.
Sen.
Sherrod Brown of Ohio, one of the leaders of the effort, told CNN that
the GOP would squarely to be blame if there were a shutdown. Asked if he
had the support to block a bill, Brown said: "I don't have any idea
what we have. I know that the support has been stronger than I expected
from Democrats and from some Republicans that will vote with us."
At
issue is whether to extend the miners' insurance program -- which
serves retired miners and their spouses -- for one year or for just for
the four month length of the GOP-authored spending bill, which is known
as a continuing resolution or CR.
The
No. 2 Democrat in the chamber Dick Durbin said, "I don't know" if
Democrats have the votes to block the bill. He added that he was not
whipping his caucus to vote against it and he declined to announce his
own position on the bill.
One
person who is trying to build support for the measure is Manchin who was
holed up in his office Friday talking to Democrats and some Republicans
urging them to block the CR. Manchin, a moderate, had been scheduled to
meet with Trump in New York Friday about a possible job in his
administration but it was postponed until Monday so he could deal with
the miners' issue.
Democrats are
worried Manchin might leave the Senate to work for Trump, which could
lead to a Republican pick up of his Senate seat.
Manchin
is leading a pack of coal Senate Democrats -- including Brown, Heidi
Heitkamp of North Dakota and Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, each of whom is
up for re-election in two years --- to bolster the insurance benefits.
Manchin has the support of at least one Republican, his fellow West
Virginia Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, while GOP Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio
is weighing whether to join the Democrats as well.
But
even Manchin wouldn't predict that he has the 41 votes needed to
scuttle the spending bill and force a change to help the miners.
"We
have a strong commitment from our caucus, I can tell you that. Very
strong," is as far as Manchin would go when asked specifically late
Thursday if he had 41 votes.
One key Democrat has joined Manchin's battle. Schumer vowed Thursday, "We are going to win this fight."
There
could be political dividends for Democrats making a full-throated fight
for the miners, even at the risk of a potentially risky shutdown. Trump
won big in coal country and Democrats would love to claw back some of
those working class voters.
As he
opened the chamber for what's been expected to be the final legislative
day of the year, McConnell implored Democrats to accept the miners
provision as it is and not recklessly shutdown the government over it.
"The
funding in the CR is critical to our nation's defense. It supports
overseas operations, the fight against ISIL, and our forces in
Afghanistan," McConnell said. "It provides resources to being
implementing the medical innovation bill that we passed earlier this
week and to start bringing relief to victims of severe flooding."
McConnell
said also that it is "unlikely" the health benefits would go away in
April and that he would fight then to extend them.
"It's
been my intention that the miner benefits not expire at the end of
April next year," said McConnell. I'm going to work with my colleagues
to prevent that. But this is a good time to take 'yes' for an answer.
We should pass the CR without delay."
McConnell
noted that the bill passed the House with overwhelming bipartisan
support Thursday, a sign House Democrats were okay with the four month
extension.
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