Congress Avoids Government Shutdown For Now As GOP Backs Off Health Care Vote

WASHINGTON, DC — Congress passed a continuing resolution Friday to forestall a government shutdown, just about 12 hours short of its midnight deadline. The measure only funds the federal government through May 5, though, so lawmakers will leave the country on brink for another week as they negotiate a longer-term agreement on a spending bill.

"It was imperative that the House and Senate pass this legislation and send it to the President today," said Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen, a New Jersey Republican and chair of the House Appropriations committee, in a statement.“I am optimistic that a full-year Appropriations package will be completed soon. Congress must fulfill our constitutional duty and provide responsible funding for the federal government for the rest of this fiscal year.” (For more information on this and other political stories, subscribe to the White House Patch for daily newsletters and breaking news alerts.)

House Republican leaders conceded Thursday that they lacked the votes to overhaul Obamacare and said they would not put their health care proposal on the floor Friday or Saturday, which Democrats demanded as a condition for passing the continuing resolution to keep the government open for now. The health care decision is a blow to President Trump, who had been pushing for a vote by Saturday — his 100th day in office — and weighed in on the spending negotiations with a series of tweets bashing Democrats.

A government shutdown would mean hundreds of thousands of government workers would be furloughed, national parks would close and departments such as the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would shut down.

Negotiations this week focused on the short-term bill. It's not clear whether lawmakers will simply have the same fights next week.

Republicans left open the possibility of voting on their health care legislation next week.

"As soon as we have the votes, we'll vote on it," House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy said Thursday after leaving a nearly two-hour meeting of the House GOP leadership.

Democrats had refused to go along with any spending plan unless Republicans dropped their intention to vote this week on replacing Obamacare. Trump, who failed to get his health care vote and backed off his demand that the short-term funding bill include money to build his border wall, can point to the confirmation of Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court as his chief accomplishment in his first 100 days but the president has no legislative victories to tout.

"The Democrats want to shut government if we don't bail out Puerto Rico and give billions to their insurance companies for OCare failure. NO!" he said Thursday on Twitter. "I want to help our miners while the Democrats are blocking their healthcare."

He continued: "I promise to rebuild our military and secure our border. Democrats want to shut down the government. Politics!"

Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell adopted a much more conciliatory tone about the funding negotiations on Twitter and correctly predicted a deal: "We expect to pass a short-term funding bill before [Friday's] deadline so a final draft can be shared w members prior to consideration next week."

With majorities in the House and Senate, Republicans are driving negotiations for a long-term spending bill, but Democrats have significant leverage. McConnell and House Speaker Paul Ryan were forced to negotiate with Democrats after it became clear that Republicans lacked enough votes to pass a long-term spending bill on their own.

“I would be shocked if they would want to see a government shutdown, that the Democrats would want to do that,” Ryan told reporters Thursday. “The reason this government funding bill is not ready is because Democrats have been dragging their feet.”

Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer put the blame for the last-minute negotiations on the GOP, which controls both houses of Congress and the White House. Congressional leaders were close to a final budget deal weeks ago, he said, but negotiations were derailed when Trump demanded the money for the border wall.

“Unfortunately the president stood in the way for quite a long time,” Schumer said. “That’s why we’re a little delayed.”

Democrats have indicated that they're willing to embrace some additional funding for defense and even some border control spending, as long as it doesn't go toward paying for the wall.

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Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images News/Getty Images