US President Donald Trump and Senate Democrats reached an agreement on Thursday to avoid a prolonged shutdown of most of the federal government, Trump's office and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer announced, UNN reports with reference to NBC News.
Details
The agreement provides funding for the entire government, except for the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS), until September. According to five sources familiar with the agreement, the Department of Homeland Security will operate under a two-week interim bill to buy time for negotiations on changes sought by Democrats after public outrage over the killings of two US citizens by the Department of Homeland Security in Minneapolis.
Senators had hoped to vote on the deal Thursday night but were unable to resolve several minor issues; the chamber will now seek to vote on Friday, the publication writes. The House of Representatives, which returns to Washington on Monday, will then have to pass the bill and send it to Trump for his signature.
Funding for several agencies will be temporarily suspended starting at 12:01 a.m. Saturday, but if the deal is passed by both chambers, the impact is expected to be minimal as most federal employees do not work on weekends.
Trump urged lawmakers from both parties to vote for the bipartisan agreement.
"The only thing that can slow our country down is another long and destructive government shutdown," he said Thursday night on Truth Social.
"Republicans and Democrats in Congress have come together to fund the vast majority of the government until September, while providing an extension for the Department of Homeland Security," he said. "Hopefully, both Republicans and Democrats will vote 'yes' in a much-needed bipartisan vote."
The agreement reflects what senators from both parties unveiled just a day earlier: a short-term funding bill for DHS while the two parties debate changes to the department and US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which it controls, as well as funding bills for the rest of the government.
NBC News sources said the parties agreed to a two-week resolution that would keep DHS operating until February 13, just before both chambers go on a week-long recess.
"If Republicans don't do anything wrong for two weeks, DHS will shut down, and we will have no incentive to reopen without restrictions on ICE," a Democratic aide said.
The deal came hours after the Senate rejected a massive $1.2 trillion funding package that the House passed last week; that bill combined all six funding bills, including DHS funding. The Senate vote was 45-55, with eight Republicans joining all Democrats in voting against it — far short of the 60 votes needed to overcome a filibuster.
The failure of the vote on the House package was expected, amid warnings from Democrats that they would not support it without significant guarantees related to DHS and ICE operations. But the extent of Republican opposition to the existing package highlighted the leverage Democrats had in reaching a deal, the publication writes.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican, said there were extensive discussions before the deal was reached on Wednesday.
"There was a lot of discussion. I think it was productive. And I certainly hope a shutdown can be avoided. We'll see," he said.
Funding for many critical agencies, including the Pentagon, State Department, Treasury, Transportation, Health and Human Services, Education, and Homeland Security, expires at 11:59 p.m. local time on Friday.
These agencies are expected to close regardless of a bipartisan agreement, as anything passed by the Senate must also be passed by the House.
Earlier on Thursday, at his first Cabinet meeting of the new year, Trump said: "I think we're going to work very bipartisanly to avoid a shutdown. We don't want to shut down."