Trump signs bill ending shutdown, official says
Story highlights
- The Senate needed 60 votes to pass a resolution to fund the government
- Sens. Chuck Schumer and Mitch McConnell said they had an 'arrangement'
Washington (CNN)President
Donald Trump signed a bill Monday night ending the government shutdown,
capping off a nearly three-day deadlock and reinstating funds until
February 8, a senior administration official said.
The
House and the Senate voted Monday to end the government shutdown,
extending funding for three weeks, following a deal being reached
between Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senate Majority Leader
Mitch McConnell regarding assurances related to immigration.
The House passed the continuing resolution 266-159, with 36 more yes votes than the four-week resolution they passed last week.
The
movement comes thanks in part to commitments from McConnell and other
Republicans in bipartisan meetings, according to four Democratic
sources.
The
votes came several hours after the workday for hundreds of thousands of
furloughed federal employees was supposed to have begun, and it comes
three days after the government officially shut down Friday at midnight.
The
movement comes thanks in part to commitments from McConnell and other
Republicans in bipartisan meetings, according to four Democratic
sources.
"We will vote today to
reopen the government," Schumer said earlier on the Senate floor, saying
he and McConnell had reached an "arrangement."
McConnell
reiterated the same on the Senate floor, adding the shutdown was
distracting senators from focusing on passing legislation.
"I
respect the passion that many of my friends in this chamber, Democrat
and Republican alike bring to the major issue before the Senate, all of
these issues," McConnell said. "But we should not let the political
feuds or policy disagreements obscure the simple fact that every member
of this body cares deeply about the challenges facing our country."
He
continued: "It's evident that this government shutdown is doing
nothing, absolutely nothing to generate bipartisan progress on the
issues the American public care about."
The Senate passed the measure earlier Monday 81-18.
The
Senate vote was moved from 1 a.m. ET Monday to noon after it became
clear Democrats would block the spending bill over disagreements on a
variety of issues, most notably what do about young people affected by
the expiring Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.
Flake
said Sunday night he was now a "yes" on the funding bill and it was his
hope that six or seven more moderate Democrats would come on board to
get the continuing resolution over the finish line -- to 60 votes -- to
end the shutdown.
He said the
Democrats still want something tangible on DACA but said it was
problematic because it could run into the February 8 funding deadline.
He
argued that they won a concession from McConnell that he isn't
requiring President Donald Trump to sign off before an immigration bill
moves to the floor.
"For the first
time, we have the majority leader move off of we can only move something
if the President agrees," Flake told reporters.
Earlier
Sunday, Trump called for Senate Republicans to change the chamber's
rules to resolve the funding impasse as the government shutdown
continued into its second day. He tweeted a call for McConnell to invoke the so-called "nuclear option" and thereby remove leverage for Senate Democrats.
Senate
rules impose a threshold of 60 votes to break a filibuster, and Senate
Republicans currently hold a slim majority of 51 votes, meaning even if
they can unite their members, they need nine more votes to end debate.
The White House is calling for the Senate to change its rules and move
the threshold to a simple majority of 51 votes.
A
spokesman for McConnell said in response to the tweet that the Senate
Republican Conference does not support changing the 60-vote rule, a
reiteration of Republican Senate leadership's already-stated opposition
to the move Trump has called for over the past year.
This story has been updated and will continue to update with new developments Monday.
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