Trump’s shutdown solution hangs in limbo

Associated Press

WASHINGTON

President Donald Trump’s proposal to break through the budget deadlock appeared to be gaining little traction Monday, as another missed paycheck loomed for hundreds of thousands of workers and the partial federal shutdown stretched into its fifth week.

Despite the fanfare of the president’s announcement, voting in Congress was not expected to unfold until later in the week.

Even then it seemed doubtful that legislation based on Trump’s plan had any chance of swiftly passing the Senate. Republicans hold a 53-47 majority but would need Democrats to reach the usual 60-vote threshold for bills to advance.

Not a single Democrat publicly expressed support for the deal in the 48 hours since Trump announced it. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer’s office reiterated Monday that they are unwilling to negotiate any border security funding until Trump reopens the government.

“Nothing has changed with the latest Republican offer,” said Schumer spokesman Justin Goodman. “President Trump and Senate Republicans are still saying: ‘Support my plan or the government stays shut.’ That isn’t a compromise or a negotiation – it’s simply more hostage taking.”

While the House and Senate are scheduled to be back in session today, no votes have been scheduled so far on Trump’s plan. And senators, who will be given 24-hour notice ahead of voting, have yet to be recalled to Washington.

McConnell spokesman David Popp said Monday that the GOP leader “will move” to voting on consideration of the president’s proposal “this week.”

Trump, who on Sunday lashed out at House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, accusing her of acting “irrationally,” continued to single her out on Twitter.

“If Nancy Pelosi thinks that Walls are “immoral,” why isn’t she requesting that we take down all of the existing Walls between the U.S. and Mexico,” he wrote Monday. “Let millions of unchecked “strangers” just flow into the U.S.”

House Democrats this week are pushing ahead with voting on their own legislation to reopen the government and add $1 billion for border security – including 75 more immigration judges and infrastructure improvements – but no funding for the wall.

Meanwhile, the impact of the shutdown – the longest ever – continued to ripple across the nation as it stretched into its 31st day.

The Transportation Security Administration said the percentage of its airport screeners missing work hit 10 percent Sunday – up from 3.1 percent on the comparable Sunday a year ago.

The screeners, who have been working without pay, have been citing financial hardship as the reason they can’t report to work. Even so, the agency said that it screened 1.78 million passengers Sunday with only 6.9 percent having to wait 15 minutes or longer to get through security.

The shutdown had also threatened to disrupt plans for an annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day service at Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church, where the civilrights leader was co-pastor with his father from 1960 until his assassination in 1968. The site is run by the National Park Service and had been closed. But a grant from Delta Air Lines is keeping the church and associated sites, including the home where King was born, open through Feb. 3.

Also on Monday, Trump paid a brief visit to the Martin Luther King Jr. memorial in Washington.

Trump was joined by Vice President Mike Pence. The two laid a wreath at the foot of the memorial, then held a brief moment of silence.

The visit lasted less than two minutes.

Trump had been criticized earlier in the day by the Rev. Al Sharpton, who said it was “an insult to the American people” that the White House was not commemorating the holiday with an event.

The president’s memorial visit had not been listed on his public schedule.