Democrats in the House of Representatives are planning a vote on Thursday on a funding package to end the 10-day-old partial U. S. government shutdown without providing the $5 billion President Donald Trump has demanded for a U. S.-Mexico border wall.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Democrats in the House of Representatives are planning a vote on Thursday on a funding package to end the 10-day-old partial U. S. government shutdown without providing the $5 billion President Donald Trump has demanded for a U. S.-Mexico border wall.
The planned vote sets up a Democratic showdown with Trump’s fellow Republicans on an issue dear to the president on the first day of divided government in Washington since he took office in January 2017 with a Congress led by his own party. Democrats will formally take control of the House from the Republicans on Thursday after winning a majority of seats in November’s congressional elections.
The two-part package will include a bill to keep funding for the Department of Homeland Security at current levels through Feb. 8 with $1.3 billion for border security, as well as measures to fund other shuttered agencies through the Sept. 30 end of the current fiscal year, Democratic congressional aides said on Monday.
If approved in the House, the government funding package would go next to the Republican-led Senate. Its Senate prospects appear unpromising though Trump’s unpredictability makes it hard to gauge how the shutdown showdown will play out.
The Democratic legislation will mark the first major battle pitting the incoming Democratic House majority led by Nancy Pelosi against Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who has said his chamber will not consider any legislation Trump would not support.
