Schumer announces that Senate has come to a deal to avert government shutdown

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced on the Senate floor Thursday night that lawmakers had reached a deal to avert a government shutdown. 

‘I am pleased to announce that an agreement has been reached between Democrats and Republicans that will allow the Senate to take up and pass the continuing resolution to fund the government through February 18,’ Schumer said. ‘With this agreement there will be no government shutdown.’ 

Earlier the House passed the bill that would fund the government through mid-February, with a vote of 221-212. 

Just one Republican, the retiring Rep. Adam Kinzinger, voted with the Democratic majority to keep the government open. 

The deal hatched in the Senate would allow for a vote on a single amendment, the Lee-Marshall amendment, which would defund President Joe Biden’s vaccine mandate. 

That vote is expected to fail.

Then the Senate will vote on the House-passed bill, enabling Biden to sign it before the government would have shut down on midnight Friday.  

The bill contains virtually no new spending, except for $7 billion for Afghan refugees.  

House Appropriations Committee Chair Rep. Rosa DeLauro had originally only wanted to extend the funding for two weeks, but lawmakers on both sides pushed for a longer timeline to hash out fiscal year 2022’s budget.

‘With a new deadline of February 18, there is ample time for Republicans to join us for bipartisan, bicameral appropriations negotiations,’ DeLauro said in a statement after the House passed the legislation, early Thursday evening.

Appropriations Committee Chair Rep. Rosa DeLauro said that the deal included virtually no new spending, but it does include $7 billion for Afghan refugees

The conservative House Freedom Caucus had written a letter to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell urging him to stall the legislation in the Senate, but the Kentucky Republican has signaled he has no appetite for a shutdown. 

‘We won’t shut down,’ he told reporters. ‘I think we’ll get there, and certainly nobody should be concerned about a government shutdown.’ 

But McConnell will have to get a few rogue members of his caucus on board, as the bill will go into lengthy debate sure to extend beyond Friday night without unanimous consent. 

Sen. Mike Lee, a Utah Republican, is leading the group plotting the move. By his side are Sens. Roger Marshall, R-Kansas, Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Ron Johnson, R-Wis. 

‘I’m sure we would all like to simplify the process for resolving the [continuing resolution], but I can’t facilitate that without addressing the vaccine mandates,’ he told Politico Playbook. 

‘Given that federal courts across the country have raised serious issues with these mandates, it’s not unreasonable for my Democratic colleagues to delay enforcement of the mandates for at least the length of the continuing resolution,’ Lee added. 

In early November, 15 Senate Republicans signed onto a letter addressed to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer vowing to ‘oppose all efforts to implement and enforce [the vaccine mandates] with every tool at our disposal, including our votes on spending measures considered by the Senate.’

But some Republicans are growing more frustrated by the ploy. ‘I just don’t quite understand the strategy or the play of leverage for a mandate that’s been stayed by 10 courts,’ said Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D. 

Biden’s mandate, which would order businesses with 100 or more employees to require vaccination or weekly Covid-19 tests, has start date in sight after Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) suspended implementation of it last month when a federal court blocked the measure. 

The mandate was originally scheduled to take effect Jan. 4, and businesses would have faced a maximum of $136,532 in fines, $13,653 per violation.

Sen. Mike Braun, R-Ind., told Politico that he prefers to hold a separate vote next week to roll back Biden’s mandate without his party taking a hit for a shutdown. 

‘Most everybody agrees with me,’ Braun said. ‘Almost everybody.’