Kill bill: Senate set to sink two plans to end the shutdown
by Susan Ferrechio
| January 24, 2019 12:00 AM
The Senate on Thursday is expected to kill two bills aimed at ending the government shutdown and send everyone back to the drawing board on how to reopen parts of the federal bureaucracy that have been shuttered for five weeks.
But the votes could see some senators buck their party leaders and vote for the opposing party's plan, which will give some sense of whether either side is wavering in a battle that has led to the longest shutdown in U.S. history.
The Democratic bill up for a vote would temporarily reopen the government, which would give federal workers some reprieve for the five weeks of pay they've missed. No Republican has said they'd support the Democratic bill, but it could still win votes from some GOP senators, which might be read as a sign that Trump's party is growing impatient with the shutdown.
Several Republicans wrote a letter last week asking President Trump to agree to reopen the government in exchange for a promise that the Senate would consider border security legislation that includes wall funding.
Republicans involved in that effort could end up voting for the Democratic bill, but will fall short of the 13 GOP senators needed to advance it. They included Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, Susan Collins of Maine, Rob Portman of Ohio, and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina.
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