(AFP) – US President Donald Trump urged the House of Representatives on Monday to swiftly adopt a spending bill and end the three-day government shutdown. “I hope all Republicans and Democrats will join me in supporting this Bill, and send it to my desk WITHOUT DELAY,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.
The shutdown followed a breakdown in negotiations because of Democratic anger over the killing of two protesters in Minneapolis by federal immigration agents, which derailed talks over new money for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Late Friday, the Senate passed a package clearing five outstanding funding bills to cover most federal agencies through September, along with a two-week stopgap measure to keep DHS operating while lawmakers negotiate immigration enforcement policy.
Several conservative Republicans have voiced their disdain for the deal, however, and have threatened to vote against the Senate-backed package on Tuesday. In his Truth Social post, Trump said “there can be NO CHANGES at this time” to the legislation and called for its immediate passage. “We will work together in good faith to address the issues that have been raised, but we cannot have another long, pointless, and destructive Shutdown that will hurt our Country so badly,” the Republican president said in a reference to a record 43-day stoppage last summer.
Mike Johnson, speaker of the Republican-controlled House, has expressed optimism that an agreement is imminent. “We’ll get all this done by Tuesday; I’m convinced,” Johnson said on Fox News Sunday. The speaker has a razor-thin majority in the House, however, and cannot afford to lose more than one vote on the Republican side. His margin was reduced even further on Monday with the arrival of a Democrat who won a special election in Texas.
Republican defections could force Johnson to rely on Democratic votes to advance the funding bill and end the shutdown. If the House approves the Senate deal, lawmakers would then have just two weeks to negotiate a full-year DHS funding bill. Both parties acknowledge these talks will be politically fraught, as Democrats are demanding new guardrails on immigration enforcement and conservatives are pushing their own policy priorities.
Democrats in the House want changes to the way DHS conducts its immigration sweeps — with heavily armed, masked and unidentified agents who sometimes detain people without warrants — before voting on the spending package. Shutdowns temporarily freeze funding for non-essential federal operations, forcing agencies to halt services, place workers on unpaid leave, or require them to work without pay.
– Robin LEGRAND
© 2024 AFP
