Lawmakers in the two parties are no closer to resolving the issues that triggered the shutdown, such as budget and immigration

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

Three days after debate over federal spending and immigration policy shut down the federal government, key battles between Democrats and Republicans remained unresolved on Tuesday.

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Donald Trump signed a short-term spending measure late on Monday, after Senate Democrats agreed on legislation to fund the government for three weeks, in exchange for a commitment to vote on ensuring protection for Dreamers, young undocumented migrants who were brought to the US as children.

The compromise, which ended the shutdown and returned hundreds of thousands of federal employees to work after they were furloughed on Monday, comes at a time of profound political polarization in Washington, when trust across the aisle is in short supply.

Liberal groups and progressive lawmakers were furious after a majority of Senate Democrats voted to end the shutdown on Monday, trusting that the Republican majority leader, Mitch McConnell, would indeed allow a vote on immigration next month.

McConnell on Tuesday reiterated that it was his “intention” to allow debate on immigration legislation that would protect Dreamers. The offer, he said, was conditional on the government remaining open, a tactical move to ward off another shutdown in three weeks.

“Because common sense and bipartisanship won out yesterday, we have a fresh start today,” McConnell said in a floor speech on Tuesday. “I challenge everyone to make the most of it. The American people are watching.”

Asked what he would say to Dreamers who were fearful the majority leader won’t keep his promise, McConnell told reporters: “I intend to keep my word.”

Even if the Senate does act, however, there is no guarantee the House Republican leadership will follow.

But the deal was enough to win support from 33 Senate Democrats, who joined 48 Republicans to reopen the government on Monday night. Sixteen progressive Democrats voted against the measure, including Senator Kamala Harris of California, who said it would be “foolhardy” to trust McConnell.

On Tuesday morning, the president tweeted: “Nobody knows for sure that the Republicans & Democrats will be able to reach a deal on DACA [Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals] by February 8, but everyone will be trying....with a big additional focus put on Military Strength and Border Security.



“The Dems have just learned that a Shutdown is not the answer!”





Chuck Schumer, the Senate minority leader, parried criticism on Tuesday, insisting that the Democratic leadership was “pleased” by the outcome of what was an audacious gambit to force Republicans’ hand on immigration. He told reporters that Democrats were “a lot better off today when it comes to the cause of Dreamers than we were four or five days ago”.

“Leader McConnell made a promise not just to Democrats but to Republicans as well. We expect him to keep his word to the body,” Schumer said, adding later that the motto was “trust but verify”.

Republicans and Democrats are no closer to resolving the issues that triggered the shutdown. They have no consensus on a budget and have yet to settle on an immigration compromise that could pass both chambers and win support from a White House in which immigration hardliners have the president’s ear.



Trump praised one of those hardliners, his chief of staff, on Tuesday, tweeting: “Thank you to General John Kelly, who is doing a fantastic job, and all of the Staff and others in the White House, for a job well done. Long hours and Fake reporting makes your job more difficult, but it is always great to WIN, and few have won more than us!”

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Left uncertain is the status of the nearly 700,000 undocumented immigrants, after Trump rescinded Daca in September and gave Congress a six-month grace period to resolve the issue legislatively.

But the path to a bipartisan immigration solution that satisfies Democrats’ desire for Dreamer protections, Republicans’ requirement for increased border security and Trump’s demand for a wall seemed as distant as ever on Tuesday.

An inchoate effort to restart negotiations was under way in the Senate without clear direction or leadership. Several senators on Tuesday said the current state of negotiations was unmoored from an earlier bipartisan effort that paired increased border security and tighter controls on immigration with a Dream Act, legislation that would offer a conditional path to citizenship for certain undocumented people.

“There is not even an agreement on a starting point,” said Richard Durbin, the No 2 Senate Democrat, who has been at the center of negotiations over Dreamers. “But I will tell you, there is only one bipartisan bill that has been brought before the Senate. That should be the starting point.”

But Trump rejected the plan drafted by the Republican senators Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Jeff Flake of Arizona and Durbin, of Illinois.

The White House press secretary, Sarah Sanders, on Tuesday called the plan “unacceptable” and said the legislation should be “declared dead on arrival” because it failed to meet the administration’s demands on border security.

Flake said negotiators had abandoned that legislation as talks resumed to find a compromise solution on immigration. “This is a new effort entirely,” he told reporters on Tuesday.



Meanwhile, Schumer has rescinded his offer to allow funding for the construction on a border wall, which he had extended to Trump in a last-ditch effort to stave off a shutdown.

Since the White House rejected that offer, Schumer said he had taken the wall offer “off the table”.