Shutdown hits as Hill leaders and White House negotiate

A significant portion of the government shut down at midnight last night, as the House and Senate adjourned without reaching agreement on a new spending bill.  Lawmakers are now waiting on a negotiated deal between legislative leaders and President Donald Trump to fund the Departments of Homeland Security, Treasury, Commerce, State, Housing and Urban Development, Agriculture and Interior, as well as the General Services Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency and various smaller agencies.

A Senate "motion to proceed" for a House bill -- a continuing resolution through Feb. 8 that included $5.7 billion in wall funding -- was held open for a record five hours and 18 minutes on the afternoon of Dec. 21 and ended in  48-47 vote. But instead of proceeding to a cloture motion requiring 60 votes -- which would certainly fail -- lawmakers opted to wait for a deal.

Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) said on the floor in the late afternoon of Dec. 21 that the Senate would not vote "until a global agreement is reached" to fund the government.

The dispute continues a running political battle over funding for a proposed border wall on the U.S.-Mexico border. President Donald Trump and conservatives in the House of Representatives are demanding such funding as a condition passing a broader spending bill, while House and Senate Democrats are refusing to support wall funding.

Alternatives to the House-passed continuing resolution include passing a very short-term continuing resolution to the passage of full appropriations bills. The House and Senate already passed appropriations bills funding about 75 percent of government operations, as measured in dollars. 

An estimated 800,000 federal employees work at the shuttered agencies. About 400,000, including more than 210,000 at DHS, are considered essential and are required to work without pay during the period of a lapse in appropriations. These include border and airline security personnel, as well as Secret Service agents.

Affected agencies held furlough meetings with employees on Dec. 23 to spell out orderly shutdown procedures. These guidelines vary from agency to agency, but typically involve a caution not to power up a government-issued computer or smartphone during the period of the shutdown, and a requirement for workers to change outgoing phone messages to reflect the lapse in appropriations.

The Office of Management and Budget released updated instructions for agencies covering payroll procedures, leave and orderly shutdown procedures.

Before adjourning on Dec. 21, the Senate also passed a bill sponsored by Maryland Democrats Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen to guarantee back pay for furloughed feds.