Schumer: Senate will sink Trump's plan to end shutdown

Associated Press

WASHINGTON

The Senate's top Democrat predicts the president's proposal to break the shutdown stalemate won't pass the Senate.

Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York said on Sunday he thinks Democrats will block the measure to give the president $5.7 billion for the border wall. The proposal would also extend temporary protections for some young people brought to the U.S. illegally as children and immigrants who fled disaster zones.

Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is to bring Trump's proposal to the Senate floor for a vote on Tuesday.

Schumer also pushed legislation that would protect government workers who can't pay their bills because of the government shutdown. He says the measure would shield workers from eviction or home foreclosure, repossession of their cars and penalties for late payment of bills and student loans.

Meanwhile, the impacts of the record-breaking partial government shutdown are continuing to escalate.

The Transportation Security Administration reports that many of its staff have been calling out of work because they can't afford to get there.

They say that, "many employees are reporting that they are not able to report to work due to financial limitations."

TSA has been experiencing far higher unscheduled absences during the shutdown, with 8 percent of employees skipping work on Saturday compared to 3 percent a year ago.

That has forced screening area closures at some airports, including at Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, where "Checkpoint A" was closed Saturday.

Still, TSA reports that, on Saturday, 99.9 percent of passengers waited less than 30 minutes and 93.8 percent waited less than 15 minutes.