WASHINGTON: US lawmakers struck a deal to reopen the federal governmentthree days into a shutdown prompted by an impasse over immigration andborder security, the Senate Democratic leader said on Monday.
“We will vote today to reopen the government,” Minority Leader ChuckSchumer told the Senate.
Democrats had insisted that any short-term spending legislation to keep thegovernment running include protections for young undocumented immigrantsknown as “Dreamers.”
Republicans in turn said they would not negotiate on immigration untilDemocrats gave them the votes needed to reopen the government.
Funding for government operations expired at midnight on Friday andlawmakers worked through the weekend in vain. The outlines of a deal beganemerging as a bipartisan group of senators held talks on Sunday and Mondaymorning.
Tens of thousands of federal workers had begun closing down operations onMonday, the first weekday since the shutdown, but essential services suchas security and defense operations continued.
Schumer said he had come to an arrangement with Senate Republican LeaderMitch McConnell on the funding bill to keep the government open until Feb.8 and a plan to address the issue of the Dreamers.