This past Wednesday Donald Trump abruptly walked out of a meeting with Senate leaders saying, “bye-bye,” to any negotiating about opening the government if he doesn’t get what he wants with this ridiculous wall.
Adding to the seemingly endless misery, on Thursday, an attempt by a group of Senate Republicans to try to somehow find a “fix” to Trump’s border request and reopen the government completely fell apart, leaving many, including Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) at a loss. The talks had included $7 billion, that the administration asked for last weekend, to be moved through the appropriations committee along with Trump’s border wall requests in order to allow most of the government to reopen, but that failed.
In a last-ditch effort on Friday, Senator Murkowski suggested that the Senate should pass a “stopgap bill” to fully reopen the government and put federal employees back to work while lawmakers continued to negotiate Trump’s border wall.
Murkowski, referring to the Senate continuing resolution, stated:
‘Maybe we can get a short-term reprieve. Let’s do a short-term CR to allow us to process this, but let’s not keep the government shut down while we do this. Shutting down the government is not governing. Nobody is winning in this.
‘Let’s do what we need to do when it comes to ensuring the security of our nation and our borders. Let’s navigate those issues but let’s not hold hostage good men and women who are working hard to keep us safe every day through the basic functions of government.’
Watch:
This shutdown, which began Dec. 22, 2018, is set to become the longest in modern history.
Most of Congress left town on Friday and don’t plan to return until next week, but a group of GOP Senators, including Murkowski, seem to have found a way to stop any future shutdowns with this continuing resolutions bill.
Whether or not the bill passes, remains to be seen.
Featured image via Flickr.
