WASHINGTON, DC – A US government shutdown looked inevitable Thursday (Friday, Manila time) after Senate Democrats blocked a key vote to keep departments funded, escalating a standoff with the White House over President Donald Trump’s hardline immigration crackdown following the fatal shooting of two protesters.
The failed vote stalled a six-bill spending package that would fund more than three-quarters of the federal government, and a partial shutdown is set to begin after midnight Saturday.
Senators were expected to hold a second vote on a revised package, but even a successful outcome would still require approval by the House of Representatives, which is not due back from recess until Monday — more than two days after the Friday night deadline.
Under congressional rules, identical bill texts must pass both the House and Senate before they can become law.
It will be the second government stoppage since Trump took office a year ago, although hopes were high that it could be limited to the weekend, unlike last summer’s record-breaking 43-day closure.
Democrats had been clear that they intended to block the six-bill package unless funding for the Department of Homeland Security is separated out and renegotiated to impose new guardrails on Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the most heavily funded federal law-enforcement agency.
“What ICE is doing is state-sanctioned thuggery and it must stop. And Congress has the authority — and the moral obligation — to act,” Senate Democratic Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said.
Schumer later announced that the White House had agreed to a temporary framework addressing Democrats’ demands on the DHS bill, though US media reported that a vote on the deal had been delayed until Friday.
