Washington – It was four days before Christmas, and all through the House – and Senate – not a shutdown solution was stirring and lawmakers,…
Washington – It was four days before Christmas, and all through the House – and Senate – not a shutdown solution was stirring and lawmakers, they did grouse.
The chaos that is President Donald Trump’s White House seemed to engulf the Capitol on Friday. While the workings of Congress are often tumultuous, especially as adjournment nears, things seemed even more out of kilter than usual as a partial government shutdown loomed just hours away.
Senators who’d gleefully left town earlier this week thinking their year’s work was done flew glumly back for votes, they hoped, would keep agencies from shuttering at 12:01 a.m. Saturday. The usually laconic Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., left a meeting with GOP senators to eagerly show reporters a button that said, “Senate Cranky Coalition.”
Virtually all senators, McConnell said, “are a part of this coalition. Yeah, almost unanimous agreement.”
None traveled further for more fleeting gratification than Democratic Sen. Brian Schatz, who flew home to Hawaii, treated his Twitter followers to a selfie capturing part of his 17 minutes with his family, then zoomed back to Washington.
“Wheels down IAD ready to vote no on this stupid wall,” he tweeted at dawn as his plane landed at Dulles International Airport outside Washington.
Another senator, Republican Mike Rounds, said he’d been home in South Dakota for about four hours Thursday when he learned he’d need to head back to Washington. He was among several senators from both parties who said they left Washington after being given the impression that the House would approve a Senate-passed bill keeping government open and that Trump would sign it.
