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U.S. NEWS Thursday 20 december 2018

GOVERNMENT RUNNING to "kick the can down the looking at ways to find the
Continued from Front road for a third time." money elsewhere.
With the Senate on track McConnell, on the other The stopgap measure
to approve the measure, hand, lashed out at Dem- would approve govern-
it would next go to the ocrats for failing to give ment funding at existing
House, where lawmak- Trump any of the $5 billion levels for the next several
ers were returning to ses- that he wanted for the wall. weeks, without a boost for
sion late Wednesday eve- "This seems to be the real- the border. It would include
ning. Votes were uncertain ity of our political moment," a temporary extension of a
there, but approval was McConnell said. "It seems national flood insurance
expected before Friday's like political spite for the program, the Violence
deadline, when federal president may be winning Against Women Act and
funding for a portion of the out over sensible policy." other measures.
government expires. Dem- Senate Minority leader At issue in the standoff is
ocratic Leader Nancy Pe- Chuck Schumer of New money for nine of 15 Cab-
losi signaled support. York said Democrats op- inet-level departments and House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi of California, the speak-
The swift pace in Congress pose Trump's border de- dozens of agencies, includ- er-designate for the new Congress in January, talks to reporters
came after Trump moved mands because the wall is ing the departments of after meeting with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-
off his demand. Trump has "inefficient" and because Homeland Security, Trans- N.Y., as Congress and President Donald Trump bicker over his
not said that he would sign Trump, as a candidate, portation, Interior, Agricul- demand that lawmakers fund a wall along the U.S.-Mexico bor-
der, pushing the government to the brink of a partial shutdown,
such a temporary measure, promised that Mexico ture, State and Justice, as in Washington, Tuesday, Dec. 18, 2018. Without a resolution, parts
but White House counsel- would pay for it, which well as national parks and of the federal government will shut down at midnight Friday.
or Kellyanne Conway on Mexico has refused to do. forests.q Associated Press
Wednesday said "he'll take "We want smart, effective
a look at that certainly." border security," Schumer
On Twitter, Trump ap- said. "That's not a wall."
peared to respond to criti- More than 800,000 gov-
cism that he was retreating. ernment workers are fac-
He insisted that "one way or ing the prospect of being
the other, we will win on the furloughed or sent to work
Wall!" Should the legislation without pay beginning at
become law, the border midnight Friday, disrupting
money fight would drag government operations
into the next Congress, days before Christmas.
which could prove even Congress often approves
more difficult for Trump with pay for such affected work-
a Democratic-led House. ers retroactively, even if
Pelosi, who is poised to be- they were ordered to stay
come House speaker, will home.
probably be able to quick- Just last week, at a tele-
ly win approval of a longer- vised meeting at the White
term measure to keep gov- House, Trump said he would
ernment running in 2019. be "proud" to shut the gov-
"Democrats will be ready ernment down over the
to fully, responsibly fund our wall. But the White House
government in January," showed its willingness to
Pelosi said in a statement. budge as it became ap-
Democratic Rep. Nita Low- parent the president did
ey of New York, who will not have support in Con-
take over as Appropriations gress for paying for the wall
Committee chairwoman, at the $5 billion level.
said she was disappointed The White House press sec-
that Trump and the Repub- retary, Sarah Huckabee
lican Congress "couldn't Sanders, indicated that
even complete their final Trump did not want to shut
task of funding the govern- down the government and
ment" and instead chose said the administration was