Here’s Everything That Happened With the Government Shutdown Since 5 p.m. Friday

By Brian Bell  |  January 22, 2018 | 11:35am
Photo by Alex Wong/Getty
Politics News Government Shutdown
Here’s Everything That Happened With the Government Shutdown Since 5 p.m. Friday

Well, it happened. Friday evening came and went without a deal that satisfied both Senate Republicans and Democrats, and a new week dawns with the government entering the third day of a completely avoidable shutdown. Let’s be honest: This was an inevitability once news came out that Schumer and Trump couldn’t hash out a deal early Friday afternoon. We were watching as everything unfolded once we left our offices on Friday, so here’s a chance to get caught up on everything that happened over the weekend.

Strap in.

Friday, 5:01 p.m.: Many Republican House members remain in D.C. despite House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) stating that he would send House members home Friday morning for a week-long recess.

Friday, 6:24 p.m.: Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND), a Democrat from a red state who is up for re-election in 2018, announces she will break ranks and support the House-passed four-week CR, stating that her vote is “not an endorsement.” She becomes the third red-state Democrat to support the House CR, joining West Virginia’s Joe Manchin and Indiana’s Joe Donnelly.

Friday, 7:05 p.m.: Sen. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) schedules a vote on the four-week CR for 10 p.m., despite not having anywhere near the 60 votes needed for it to pass.

Friday, 8:41 p.m.: Sen. Doug Jones (D-AL) becomes the fourth red-state Democrat to pledge his vote for the CR to avoid a shutdown.

Also, Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee-Sanders was publicly shaming multiple red-state Democrats on Twitter throughout the evening in an attempt to swing them to Senate Republicans’ side.

Friday, 9:14 p.m.: Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) tells Politico that he would support a shortened three-week CR.

Friday, 9:28 p.m.: President Trump tweets for the final time before the shutdown begins. Shockingly, he blames the Democrats and brags about his cosmically unpopular tax cuts.

Friday, 10 p.m.: Voting begins on the Senate floor.

Friday, 10:50 p.m.: The vote stands at 50-48, ten votes short of the required 60 needed to pass a CR. Graham and Flake are shifting back and forth between pockets of Dems and Republicans on the Senate floor, desperately trying to broker a deal, with the three-week CR being the new negotiating tool.

Friday, 11:39 p.m.: Dems propose a CR that would expire the day before the State of the Union address.

Friday, 11:57 p.m.: Huckabee-Sanders releases an official statement from the White House blaming Senate Dems for the impending shutdown, using the infamous phrase “obstructionist losers,” and desperately tries to get #SchumerShutdown trending while #TrumpShutdown was already the global number-one trending topic on Twitter.

Saturday, 12 a.m.: The U.S. government shuts down. McConnell voices concerns that Dems are holding the government hostage over immigration reform. Schumer divulges that he offered to put border wall funding back on the table during his meeting with Trump earlier that day and the president still balked on a deal.

Saturday, 1:33 a.m.: Senators adjourn, agree to reconvene at noon on Saturday.

Saturday, 6:33 a.m.: Irony ensues.

Saturday, 9:55 a.m.: Republican and Democrat arguments begin to boil down to talking points. Dems: Make a DACA deal and we’ll reopen the government. GOP: Reopen the government and we’ll make a DACA deal.

Saturday, 11:28 a.m.: Speaker Paul Ryan reportedly says he “didn’t want anything on immigration” included in any deal, according to Sen. Dick Durbin.

Saturday, 12 p.m.: Senate convenes and immediate begins placing blame. Ryan says the House “did our job” but “Senate Democrats simply refused to do theirs.” McConnell says Schumer plunged the country into a “totally political mess.” Schumer say negotiating with Trump “is like negotiating with Jello,” as he repeatedly shifts positions.

Saturday, 4:51 p.m.: A new ad from the Trump campaign states “Democrats ‘complicit’ in all murders by illegal immigrants”.

Saturday, 6:59 p.m.: A White House press release includes pictures of Trump working in the Oval Office during the shutdown. By working, we mean holding the phone to his ear while sitting at an empty desk and wearing a white “MAGA”hat, as opposed to a red one.

Saturday, 7:38 p.m.: Senate adjourns until 1 p.m. Sunday.

Sunday, 7:35 a.m.: Trump advises McConnell to use “nuclear option”:

Sunday, 1:20 p.m.: McConnell defends the Dems’ right to filibuster: “I support that right, from an institutional standpoint.” His statement quells concern that he might utilize the “nuclear option” as Trump advised earlier.

Sunday, 2:15 p.m.: A bipartisan group of senators continue to meet behind closed doors to negotiate an end to the shutdown.

Sunday, 3:03 p.m.: Graham blasts White House official Stephen Miller: “As long as Stephen Miller is in charge of negotiating immigration, we are going nowhere.”

Sunday, 3:56 p.m.: Sen. Bill Nelson says bipartisan meeting was “best meeting of my life.”

Sunday, 4:35 p.m.: A White House aide tries to distance the administration from an earlier campaign ad stating that Democrats were “complicit in murders committed by illegal immigrants.”

Sunday, 9:21 p.m.: McConnell requests a 10 p.m. vote, to which Schumer objects, citing the Senate is “yet to reach an agreement.” A vote is scheduled for Monday at noon on a three-week CR.

Monday, 10:27 a.m.: White House officials defend Trump’s role in the shutdown, stating that his “priorities are clear” as he has stayed away from the proceedings on Capitol Hill.

A new Politico/Morning Consult poll shows that more Americans still blame Trump and the GOP for the shutdown over Senate Dems by a 41 percent to 36 percent margin.

Monday, 12:15 p.m.: That brings us to now, shortly after the Senate convened at noon EST today to hopefully work out a deal to protect Dreamers and end the government shutdown. Schumer announced a vote on a CR funding the government through Feb. 8 and promising a DACA vote by that date. Schumer says he’ll vote for it, spelling the shutdown’s possibly impending end.

Monday, 1:15 p.m. EST: A compromise has been met, though not all Senate Democrats are not happy with the deal. By a vote of 81-14, the Senate voted to approve the three-week CR that will extend funding for the government to Feb. 8, beginning the process of ending the government shutdown. Minority Leader Chuck Schumer agreed to end his part in the gridlock in exchange for a promise from Majority Leader Mitch McConnell that a decision and vote on DACA protections would occur by Feb. 8. Among the Democrats voting against the resolution were Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and Kamala Harris, citing the lack of ground gained by compromise and the failure of Republican leadership to honor previous promises.

The agreement now goes to the House for a vote and will undoubtedly end up on the desk of President Trump, ending the government shutdown by the end of the day. You never know with Trump’s wavering stances, though.

 
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