Cornyn predicts government will remain shutdown Monday

Meanwhile, a bipartisan group of approximately 18 senators huddled to craft a compromise spending plan to present to their respective leadership teams.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said it was time again for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., to meet and discuss the latest terms. “I feel like now would be a good time for them to talk.”

Graham also warned the Democrats “don’t overplay your hand.”

“A government shutdown is not a good way to get an outcome legislatively,” he told reporters.

In contrast to Cornyn, Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., said he was “a little bit” more hopeful than he was before.

McConnell opened the chamber’s rare Sunday legislative session, on the second day of the shutdown, by saying Schumer on Friday “made the extraordinary and destructive choice to filibuster our bipartisan bill and guarantee the American people a shutdown of their federal government.”

He also accused Schumer of making the decision to “shut down the federal government for hundreds of millions of Americans because he didn’t get everything he wanted in one meeting” with President Trump.

The shutdown essentially has centered on Democrats’ demand that any spending bill to keep the government fully operational include protections for illegal immigrants who came to the United States as children. The White House and GOP leadership said they would not negotiate with Democrats on immigration until the government is reopened. A stopgap spending measure was slated for a vote on Monday after midnight, but Democrats have so far refused to go along with the temporary fix.

Schumer argued again Sunday that he offered a compromise immigration plan to Trump to avoid a shutdown, including billions for his must-have U.S.-Mexico border wall. However, he stopped short of repeating that “negotiating with President Trump is like negotiating with Jell-O.”

“The American people cannot begin to understand why the Senate Democratic leader thinks the entire government should be shut down until he gets his way on illegal immigration.”

– Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.

“On Friday in the Oval Office, I made what I thought was a very generous offer to the president, the most generous offer yet,” Schumer said Sunday on the Senate floor. “The president must take yes for an answer. Until he does, it’s the Trump Shutdown.”

Earlier Sunday, Trump suggested that Senate Republicans change chamber rules — and resort to the “nuclear option” — so that they could sidestep the 60 votes needed to stop the Democrats’ filibuster, then pass a long-term budget with a simple, 51-vote majority.

“Great to see how hard Republicans are fighting for our Military and Safety at the Border,” Trump tweeted. “The Dems just want illegal immigrants to pour into our nation unchecked. If stalemate continues, Republicans should go to 51% (Nuclear Option) and vote on real, long term budget, no C.R.’s!” referring to continuing spending resolutions.

However, McConnell has said he’s opposed to changing the rules.

“The Senate Republican Conference opposes changing the rules on legislation,” a McConnell spokeswoman told Fox News.

Later, on the Senate floor, McConnell sounded less unequivocal, suggesting he supported using a filibuster “from an institutional point of view but the question is, when do you use it?”

Delaware Democratic Sen. Chris Coons on “Fox News Sunday” was critical of Trump’s tweet, including its suggestion about the nuclear option, considering the 60-vote threshold has for decades provided the Senate’s minority party with some check on the majority party’s power.

“This is another example of President Trump throwing a tweet in the middle of bi-partisan negotiations that are making progress,” Coons said. “I think Senator McConnell, the majority leader, in the end will have much more say about how the Senate is run than the president should.”

Many Americans already have felt the impact of the shutdown, with weekend closures at national parks. But the full impact will be more evident Monday, when nearly 1 million federal workers are set to be furloughed without pay. In addition, many needed-but-non-essential government services with be curtailed because the government has no money to provide them.

Democrats have said their concerns about the spending bill go beyond protecting young illegal immigrants from deportation to include providing disaster relief and boosting spending for opioid treatment and other domestic programs.

Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, disagreed Sunday. “Amnesty for illegals is more important,” he told Fox News’ “Fox & Friends.”

His remarks were typical of the finger-pointing and blaming involved in the shutdown.

The GOP-controlled House passed its version of the spending bill before sending it to the Senate, where it has stalled.

House Republican leaders also met Sunday but only for about 15 minutes.

“Too many people are hurt by this,” House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., said afterward. “We want to get this done.”

The president canceled plans to travel to his resort in Florida for the weekend, which was to include a high-dollar fundraiser. And he instead has worked the phones, staying in touch with McConnell, while White House legislative affairs director Marc Short and budget chief Mick Mulvaney meet at the Capitol with House Republicans.

Mulvaney told “Fox News Sunday” that Trump wouldn’t try to “weaponize” the shutdown to his political advantage like the Obama administration did in 2013.

Social Security and most other safety-net programs will not be affected by the lapse in federal spending authority. Critical government functions continued, with uniformed service members, health inspectors and law enforcement officers set to work without pay. But if no deal is reached before Monday, an estimated 800,000 federal employees will be furloughed.

On immigration, Democrats are seeking a deal to protect so-called Dreamers. About 700,000 of them have been shielded against deportation by the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, which Trump will end in March. He’s given lawmakers until then to pass legislation restoring the protections, but he’s demanded added money for his proposed border wall with Mexico as a price.

Surce:foxnews.com