While the action in the Senate has been non-existent with respect to the shutdown, the House has been busy taking up and passing a host of bills to reopen the government. None of the bills in the House has included funding for a border wall called for by the President. The House action up to now has included passing individual bills as well as bundling them into a package.
Not surprisingly, the House action has not translated into Senate passage of any of the measures.
With the partial shutdown now in its 24th day, making it the longest shutdown in history by far, there is still no in sight. The two sides– the White House and the Congressional Democrats– have dug in their heels and no other meetings have been scheduled.
It was widely reported last week that a sizable number of the federal employees impacted by the shutdown did not receive their paychecks last week. While some parts of the country may not yet have been impacted by the shutdown, the Washington Post reports on what else could be impacted in the days and weeks to come.
As the partial government reaches its 21st day, matching the longest shutdown, there is still no compromise between the White House and Congressional Democrats in sight. With that as the current situation, President Trump has stated on numerous occasions that he has the legal authority to declare a “national emergency” to build a physical barrier along the Southern border.
The White House is considering several options with respect to finding funds for the wall, such as trying to use funds that had been designated to deal with other disasters, such as the California wildfires and the hurricanes along the East Coast in 2018, and using funds dedicated to military construction projects.
Even a declaration of a national emergency does not mean that the Administration would be able to build a wall quickly, or if at all. A number of Republicans have publicly cautioned against such a move. In addition, legal challenges will most likely be made to the declaration, with the outcomes uncertain at this point.
Additional information about the this fight is available here, here, and here.
While all of this is playing out politically, today is payday for those federal employees and contractors impacted by the shutdown. The furloughed workers will not be paid today. Read more about the situation impacting employees here.
As expected, the 116th House of Representatives elected yesterday Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) as the new Speaker of the House. She returns to the past that she once held.
Also as expected, the Democratically-controlled House a package of measures that would reopen the government: the first combined six of the seven unsigned appropriations bills and would fund the agencies in those bills through the rest of the year, while the second measure would reopen the Department of Homeland Security, with no additional funding for the wall, through February 8. The new House leadership has emphasized that the language approved by the House is the exact same language that was approved by the Republican-controlled Senate before the holidays in order to avoid the partial shutdown before President Trump announced that he would not sign it.
While the House was working on the funding package, both the White House and the Senate Majority Leader reiterated their opposition to the House bill.
With the shutdown now in its 14th day, leaders from both houses and both sides of the aisle are scheduled to meet with the President once again later today.
The transition from the 115th Congress to the 116th Congress takes place later today.
In the Senate, Republicans will remain in control, with a 53 to 47 advantage, and Mitch McConnell (R-KY) will continue to serve as the Majority Leader and Charles Schumer (D-NY) will retain the position of Minority Leader.
On the other side of the Capitol building, the Democrats will regain control. After initial questions about whether she had enough support, it appears that Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) is poised to become the next Speaker of the House.
After the new Members are sworn in, a Speaker is elected, and the debate on a rules package starts, the House is expected to take up today a package of appropriations bills that would reopen the parts of the federal government currently closed. It would keep all parts of the government funded through the end of the fiscal year except those funded by the Homeland Security Appropriations bill, which would be extended on a shot-term basis through February 8, with no new money for a border wall. Currently, this plan is not supported by the Senate or the White House, which means that the partial shutdown will likely continue.