Government Shutdown Could Be Here a While

Deal between Republicans, Democrats, White House seems far off
By Michael Harthorne,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 20, 2018 4:39 PM CST
Government Shutdown Could Be Here a While
Clune Arena was empty two hours before the game as the Air Force Academy had canceled all athletic events due to a federal government shutdown on Saturday, Jan. 20, 2018 in Colorado Springs, Colo.   (Dougal Brownlie/The Gazette via AP)

The government shutdown, which started Saturday, could be here for a while, HuffPost warns. Negotiations between Democrats, Republicans, and the White House seem far off, with Republicans saying Democrats must vote to fund the government before they'll negotiate on immigration and Democrats saying they won't vote to fund the government before negotiating on immigration. Meanwhile, President Trump is reportedly not meeting with Democrats at all Saturday. Bipartisan talks have been replaced with testy exchanges, such as Paul Ryan refusing to allow Nancy Pelosi to speak at one point Saturday. Here's everything else you need to know about the shutdown:

  • For the time being, Democrats appear to be winning the blame game—at least if you believe Twitter hashtags. ABC News reports #TrumpShutdown had been tweeted 2.6 million times as of Saturday afternoon compared to just 1.2 million tweets for #SchumerShutdown.
  • After an apparent last-minute deal with Trump fell through, Sen. Chuck Schumer said negotiating with the president "is like negotiating with Jello," adding, "He seems amenable to these compromises before completely switching positions," Mediaite reports.
  • Trump apparently met with Sen. Mitch McConnell on Saturday to find a solution for the shutdown while the White House continued to blame Democrats, the Washington Post reports. “We’ll reopen negotiations as soon as they reopen the government,” White House legislative affairs director Marc Short said.

  • The Atlantic argues that the current shutdown is more complicated than the 2013 one, which was purely about conservative opposition to the Affordable Care Act. Saturday's shutdown involved DACA, CHIP, funding for the military, and "an inexperienced president whose tumultuous first year in office ended, perhaps predictably, in crisis."
  • NBC News takes a look at what's still open—national parks, airports, the US Post Office—and what's not—the Statue of Liberty, for one—during the shutdown.
  • Meanwhile, NPR explains that the current shutdown is "unprecedented" as it's the first to occur while a single party controls both houses of Congress and the presidency.

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  • For the time being, US troops will be working without pay after McConnell rejected an effort from Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill to make sure troops continued to be compensated during the shutdown, the Washington Post reports. Congress has during past shutdowns passed bills to make sure troops were paid.
  • Elsewhere, USA Today reports the Air Force Academy canceled all school events, including men's and women's basketball games. Army and Navy games were still on.
  • Finally, Trump will miss out on his $100,000-per-couple fundraiser at Mar-a-Lago meant to celebrate the one-year anniversary of his inauguration, the Palm Beach Post reports. “There is no plan to go to Florida while there is a shutdown,” White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders says. Eric Trump will host in his father's stead.
(More government shutdown stories.)

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