A package to end the shutdown will include one bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security at current levels, with $1.3 billion for border security, through Feb. 8. It also will include six other bipartisan bills to fund the departments of Agriculture, Interior, Housing and Urban Development and others closed by the partial shutdown.
WASHINGTON — House Democrats are introducing a package of bills Monday that would reopen the federal government without approving money for President Donald Trump’s border wall.
The House is preparing to vote as soon as the new Congress convenes Thursday, as one of the first acts after Democrats take control, according to an aide who was not authorized to discuss the plan and spoke on condition of anonymity.
The package to end the shutdown will include one bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security at current levels, with $1.3 billion for border security, through Feb. 8.
It also will include six other bipartisan bills — some that already have passed the Senate — to fund the departments of Agriculture, Interior, Housing and Urban Development and others closed by the partial shutdown. They would provide money through the remainder of the fiscal year, to Sept. 30.
Democrats under Nancy Pelosi are all but certain to approve the package swiftly in two separate votes planned for Thursday. What’s unclear is whether the Republican-led Senate, under Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, will consider it or if Trump would sign it into law.
The partial government shutdown is in its second week over Trump’s demand for $5 billion for the wall. Republican senators left for the holidays refusing to vote on any bills until all sides, including Trump, were in agreement.
