Partial Government Shutdown Just in Time for the Holidays

House members went home before 7 p.m. ET and Senators left by 8, all without resolving the budget impasse and adjourning until Sunday. Senate Majority Whip John Cornryn confirmed there will not be a vote in the Senate Friday night.

Consequently, at midnight on Friday, the partial government shutdown begins. Funding for several federal agencies lapses then. Nine Cabinet departments and smaller agencies are left without funding. 380,000 employees are on furlough and 420,000 more do not get a paycheck for working. President Trump is determined to secure taxpayer funds for his border wall before the new year— when Democrats are sworn into the House of Representatives.

Lawmakers and the President failed to agree on a budget deal. A series of events led up to this conflict. Last week, President Trump said he would take responsibility for a government shutdown and he is proud to shut down the government over wall funding. This past Wednesday night, the Senate unanimously voted to pass a short-term spending bill. This bill was drafted to prevent the government from shutting down through February 8. There is no provision for border wall funds in the bill. Trump, who claimed he could find wall funding from other sources, was supposed to sign the bill to stop a government shutdown but he refused to relent over wall funding. The House created a spending bill that included the $5 billion for building the wall but there were not enough Senators in favor of this bill for it to be passed.

Trump’s sudden stubbornness is thought to be influenced by hosts on Fox and Friends who represent President Trump’s political base. The show’s hosts criticized Trump for not standing by his border wall. On Wednesday evening, President Trump informed his advisers that he would be fine with the shutdown but backing off the wall would lead to a political calamity.

President Trump, in a number of Friday morning tweets, blamed Democrats for the shutdown and insisted the wall is effective in spite of Democrats’ aversion to it. Also on Friday morning, President Trump demanded money for the wall and requested Senate Majority Leader McConnell (R-Ky.) use what he called the “nuclear option” to get the House bill passed in the Senate.

The nuclear option is an alteration to traditional legislation rules that require 60 votes to advance bills. The alteration would require 51 votes in lieu of 60. But such alterations are rare and discomfiting. Additionally, Republican Senators such as Orrin Hatch (Utah), Jeff Flake (Ariz.), and Lamar Alexander (Tenn.) refused to vote for the nuclear option. And a McConnell spokesman said there are not enough votes in the Democratic majority Senate for the nuclear option anyway.

$5 billion for the border wall is supposed to cover about 215 miles of construction along California, Arizona, Texas, and New Mexico state lines. In a few areas, private property makers need to part with their land for the wall. If the government needs to seize the land through a legal process called eminent domain, the project will stay in the courts for a few years.

Featured Image via Flickr/James Palinsad