While Congressional leaders and the White House have assured the public that the federal government shutdown that technically began at 12:01 am ET Saturday morning could be over within 24 hours, Mick Mulvaney, the director of the Office of Management and Budget and a key player in the White House’s negotiations, told Fox News Sunday what many – including us – expect will be the case: The government shutdown could persist for weeks…
Mulvaney said Democrats want to keep the government shut for Trump’s Jan. 30 State of the Union address. The beginning of the shutdown also coincided with the anniversary of Trump’s swearing-in.
As we’ve pointed out, both of the two most recent shutdowns lasted for two weeks or longer, per Axios.
Mulvaney argued that the present shutdown differed from the 2013 Obama-era shutdown in that the Democrats want to support the Republicans’ stopgap.
On #GovtShutdown, @MickMulvaneyOMB says: “I really do believe that at heart here there was an interest by some folks in the Democratic Party to deny the President sort of the victory lap of the anniversary of his inauguration” pic.twitter.com/MTPqiJPV9x
— Pat Ward (@WardDPatrick) January 21, 2018
.@MickMulvaneyOMB on #shutdown: We got a majority in the Senate but didn’t get the 60 votes…without Democrats, the government won’t open.
— FoxNewsSunday (@FoxNewsSunday) January 21, 2018
.@MickMulvaneyOMB on how 2013 #shutdown compares to this one: This is a bill the Democrats want to support, in 2013- it was something we (Republicans) didn’t like (Obamacare)…the bill on the table now would have worked in 2013.
— FoxNewsSunday (@FoxNewsSunday) January 21, 2018
.@MickMulvaneyOMB on resolving the #shutdown: There is a chance this can get solved by Monday, but I think some Democrats wanted to deny @POTUS a victory lap of the anniversary of his inauguration.
— FoxNewsSunday (@FoxNewsSunday) January 21, 2018
.@MickMulvaneyOMB on how long #shutdown will last: Could go several days as Democrats want to see @POTUS give State of the Union in shutdown.
— FoxNewsSunday (@FoxNewsSunday) January 21, 2018
Mulvaney isn’t the only one who believes the shutdown will endure for at least a week, and probably longer. Goldman Sachs’s Chief Economist, Jan Hatzius, said before the shutdown began that he believed there was a “60% chance of a government shutdown, in our view, lasting anywhere from a few days to a few weeks.”
Democrats, of course, are holding out for a deal to enshrine DACA protections for 690,000 undocumented immigrants who were brought to the US as minors in law before they agree to fund the government. On Friday, Chuck Schumer reportedly offered Trump a deal whereby Dems would vote for full military spending and full funding for Trump’s border wall if Republicans would vote ‘yes’ on DACA. Mulvaney denied that Schumer had made such an obviously attractive offer (and thanks to the backlash from left-wing media like the Washington Post editorial board, the offer would likely be withdrawn).
Meanwhile, the Senate is holding a weekend session beginning at 1 pm, and the House will open session at 2 pm, to continue debate on the Republican’s plan. Meanwhile, an even more short term five-day deal is still being discussed in the Senate, even though House leaders have made it clear that such a bill would not pass.
via RSS http://ift.tt/2F1UCWb Tyler Durden