Senators reported positive behind-the-scenes discussions Tuesday night as they returned to Washington in search of a way to end an impasse over Homeland Security funding that could trigger a partial government shutdown this weekend.
Without imminent signs of a breakthrough, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., started the legislative clock to get onto the underlying $1.3 trillion, six-bill spending package needed to avert another partial government shutdown when stopgap funding runs out Friday night. He filed cloture on the motion to proceed, which would “ripen” for a vote on Thursday barring a bipartisan deal to speed things up.
And there will likely have to be changes for the measure to hit the magic 60-votes target to advance past a filibuster, as Democrats have united against the DHS piece of the package in the wake of two fatal shootings of U.S. citizens in Minneapolis during a Trump administration immigration crackdown.
