*WASHINGTON: *Partisan finger-pointing over immigration policy on Tuesdayleft the U.S. Congress and the White House stumbling closer to a possiblefederal government shutdown by the end of the week, although Wall Streetheld out hopes for a deal to prevent that.
Republicans who control Congress are expected to try to push anotherstopgap funding bill and get it to President Donald Trump’s desk beforeFriday’s midnight deadline.
But there are perils. Conservatives want a large increase in defencespending that such a bill would not provide. Many Democrats might withholdtheir support unless immigration policy is addressed.
The negotiating climate has become increasingly poisonous after a suddenhalt last week in talks toward a deal to shield so-called Dreamers –immigrants brought into the country illegally as children — fromdeportation.
The Republican president rejected a bipartisan agreement reached by a groupof senators. Divisions between Republicans and Democrats then deepened amidan uproar over Trump’s reported use of the word “shithole” when speakingabout African countries last week. Trump has denied using that word.
Republican Senator Lindsay Graham on Tuesday blamed White House staff foraltering Trump’s positive view on the bipartisan agreement on the DeferredAction for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program that protects the Dreamers. “Iwill say I don’t think the president was well-served by his staff,” Grahamsaid.
House of Representatives Republicans were scheduled to huddle on Tuesdaynight to try to figure out how best to avoid a government shutdown,congressional aides said.
If a temporary “continuing resolution” to keep the government operatingresults, it would be the fourth such measure since the 2018 federal fiscalyear began on Oct. 1, a sign of Washington’s serious struggles to passspending legislation.
These stopgap measures have become routine, with 112 of them passed since1998, according to the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, which advocates fiscalresponsibility.
Analyst Ed Mills at financial firm Raymond James said another short-termextension is expected. “This is likely to be a week of brinkmanship and thepotential of a government shutdown is elevated. Should a shutdown occur, wedo not expect much of a market reaction,” Mills noted.
“We should all be kicked out if that happens,” Graham told reporters abouta possible shutdown.
Yet there also is little appetite for another short-term measure.
*’KICK THE CAN’*
No. 2 House Democrat Steny Hoyer said Democrats have not decided whetherthey will support another continuing resolution and “can kick the can downthe road one more time.”
The slim Republican margin of control in the U.S. Senate means Trump’sparty will need some Democratic support to resolve the government fundingstand-off. Democrats have said they want a spending bill that protects theDreamer immigrants, mostly Hispanic young adults.
Talks also continued on related issues, including how to fund a children’shealthcare program and to establish higher spending caps for the U.S.military and other domestic programs.
House Energy and Commerce Chairman Greg Walden was pushing for a six-yearreauthorisation of the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) to bepassed this week, possibly as part of a stopgap spending bill, a HouseRepublican aide said.
Trump and Democratic Senator Dick Durbin have traded accusations over thecollapse of the immigration talks.
Durbin intends to introduce the bipartisan agreement as legislation onWednesday, spokesman Ben Marter said. But it was not yet clear whetherSenate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell would schedule it for a floor debateand vote.
Trump said in September he was terminating the DACA program, launched byhis Democratic predecessor Barack Obama, effective in March. Congress hasuntil then to pass legislation to protect the roughly 700,000 Dreamers fromdeportation and give them work permits.
Trump said he was willing to make a deal to help the Dreamers, but insistedthat funding for border security, including his long-promised wall alongthe U.S.-Mexican border opposed by Democrats, be included in any spendingpackage.
“The Democrats want to shut down the Government over Amnesty for all andBorder Security. The biggest loser will be our rapidly rebuilding Military,at a time we need it more than ever,” Trump wrote on Twitter.
Democrats have done all they can to avert a shutdown and the ball is withthe Republicans, said Durbin, the No. 2 Senate Democrat. “It ispreventable,” Durbin said. AGENCIES