Senate leaders announce stopgap funding deal to avert shutdown

Dec. 19, 2018 / 10:19 AM EST
By Alex Moe, Frank Thorp V and Allan Smith

"One way or the other, we will win on the Wall!" President Donald Trump tweeted Wednesday.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced on Wednesday that a short-term bill to fund the government through Feb. 8 will be introduced later this morning, a deal that would avert a partial government shutdown over the Christmas holiday.

"Later this morning, we’ll introduce a continuing resolution that will ensure continuous funding for the federal government. The measure will provide the resources necessary to continue normal operations through February 8," the Kentucky Republican said in remarks on the Senate floor.

That resolution will not include $5 billion in funding for the border wall that President Donald Trump said was a must in order to have his approval in order to fund key parts of the federal government before they run out of operating authority on Friday.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said that Democrats would support the stopgap measure.

“Yesterday, we made some progress. Thankfully, President Trump appears to have backed down from" demanding $5 billion for a border wall," he said.

"Insistence on $5 billion for a wall has been the biggest obstacle for keeping the government open past Friday," he added.

Both House and Senate Democrats had indicated Tuesday night that they were supportive of short-term measure through early February, two Democratic sources told NBC News Tuesday night.

The White House in recent days has softened its stance and signaled that Trump will not shut down the government over border wall funding, but that doesn't mean he's backing down, both he and officials said.

"We have other ways that we can get to that $5 billion," White House press secretary Sarah Sanders told Fox News on Tuesday. "We don't want to shut down the government, we want to shut down the border from illegal immigration."

White House counselor Kellyanne Conway told Fox News on Wednesday that should Trump approve a short-term government funding package, it "doesn't mean the president is backing down from an essential promise."

And on Twitter Wednesday morning, Trump tweeted: "One way or the other, we will win on the Wall!"

In his remarks Wednesday, McConnell blamed Democrats for the necessity of a stopgap bill.
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https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/con...utdown-n949821