US Senate reaches deal to end government shutdown

US Senate reaches deal to end government shutdown

  January 22, 2018    Unknown

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The US Senate is poised to end the government shutdown, having come to an agreement on temporary funding in exchange for immigration-policy overhaul in the coming month.

The spending bill will fund the US government until February 8, according to reports from Washington, DC.

Democrats and Republicans could not agree on a continuing resolution (CR) to keep the government open by midnight last Friday. The shutdown entered its first work day on Monday morning.

"We will vote today to reopen the government," Democrat Chuck Schumer, the Senate minority leader, said in a speech on the Senate floor.

The disagreement was rooted in protections for undocumented immigrants brought to the US as minors.

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Popularly called "Dreamers", they were placed in danger of deportation by President Donald Trump when he ended the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) programme in September.

Trump, who has overseen a crackdown on undocumented immigrants and asylum seekers, said in a statement on Monday that he would agree to immigration reform "only if it's good for our country". 

Republicans passed a CR to fund the government on Friday evening, but it did not feature protections for DACA recipients and was not supported by Democrats.

Republican Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader, also said in the Senate that "at noon, every senator can vote to end this government shutdown". McConnell said he would open discussions protections for Dreamers once the CR is passed.

Trump has stated he would support a CR.

Ratings agency Standard and Poor's estimated that each week of a government shutdown would cost the US economy roughly $6bn for every week it continued.

The Senate has voted to advance the bill to fund the government. The House of Representatives and Trump must now respectively pass and sign the legislation.