{"id":31120,"date":"2018-01-19T13:30:06","date_gmt":"2018-01-19T21:30:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=31120"},"modified":"2018-01-19T13:30:06","modified_gmt":"2018-01-19T21:30:06","slug":"countdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2018\/01\/19\/countdown\/","title":{"rendered":"Countdown"},"content":{"rendered":"

As I write, a government shutdown is scheduled for a little under eight hours from now.  At this point, it’s dominating the news.  If it happens, and it probably will, the fault will rest 100% with Donald Trump and the Republican Party.  However they have engineered it in such a devious way, that they may be able to convince voters that it’s Democrats’ fault.<\/font><\/p>\n

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\"0119Shutdown\"<\/p>\n

The House approved a stopgap spending bill on Thursday night to keep the government open past Friday, but Senate Democrats \u2014 angered by President Trump\u2019s vulgar aspersions and a lack of progress on a broader budget and immigration deal \u2014 appeared ready to block the measure.<\/p>\n

The House approved the measure 230 to 197<\/a>, despite conflicting signals by President Trump sent throughout the day and a threatened rebellion from conservatives that ended up fizzling. But the bill, which would keep the government open through Feb. 16, provided only a faint glimmer of hope that a crisis could be averted before funding expires at midnight on Friday.<\/p>\n

In the Senate, at least about a dozen Democratic votes would be needed to approve the measure, and there was little chance that those would materialize. Democrats are intent on securing concessions that would, among other things, protect from deportation young immigrants brought to the country illegally as children, increase domestic spending, aid Puerto Rico and bolster the government\u2019s response to the opioid crisis.<\/p>\n

The Senate held only a procedural vote on the stopgap bill late Thursday night, leaving for Friday a more consequential vote when Democrats are expected to block the measure.<\/p>\n

In addition to keeping the government open, the bill would provide funding for the Children\u2019s Health Insurance Program for six years, and it would delay or suspend a handful of taxes imposed by the Affordable Care Act<\/strong>… [emphasis added<\/em>]<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Inserted from  <NY Times<\/a>><\/font><\/p>\n

Brian Williams covered the House measure.<\/font><\/p>\n