Free Republic

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump could avert the risk of a government shutdown next weekend by stepping back from his demand that lawmakers fund his promised border wall with Mexico in a must-pass spending bill, Congress’ two top Democrats said Monday. “If the president stepped out of it, we could get a budget done by Friday,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Monday in a conference call with reporters, referring to Democratic and Republican budget negotiators. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., agreed. She said that while Trump had promised during his campaign to build the barrier, “He did...

We’re looking at a possible government shutdown next Saturday, and that’s got some conservatives nervous. They shouldn’t be. Admittedly, past government shutdowns — or threats of shutdowns — have worked against conservatives. With Trump, however, it would likely be a different story.... even a partial shutdown plays precisely into the Trump agenda and his campaign promises of draining the swamp. Trump’s base, as well as “swing voters” who are fed up with out of control spending, would, of course, be cheered by such a move. Moreover, such a shutdown plays into Trump’s hands by giving him every excuse to slash...

A fight over whether to fund a wall at the U.S.-Mexico border could shut down the government next week. Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney said on Thursday that money for President Trump's proposed border wall must be part of the spending bill Congress must pass by April 28 to avoid a shutdown of the federal government. Democrats, however, aren't going for it. The former South Carolina congressman said in an interview with the Associated Press that the wall is a "tremendous priority" for the Trump administration and will be a top request on the White House wish...

The White House said Thursday that it wants to see money for President Trump’s border wall included in the spending bill Congress must pass next week — a demand Democrats said sours negotiations and makes a government shutdown more likely. The demands mark a reversal for the administration, which had been saying it found enough money to build prototypes this year and wouldn’t need a major infusion of cash until next year.

The government will run out of money on April 28 unless Congress passes a bill to keep the funds flowing through the end of the fiscal year. Senate Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said he’s “very confident” there will be no government shutdown on April 29, but that means Republicans will not press for some of their own — and President Trump’s — priorities, including money for a border wall. “The two appropriations committees are working on the bills on a bipartisan basis,” McConnell told “Fox News Sunday.” “I’m confident Senate Democrats are not going to want to shut down the government....

Democrats in Congress have a new and somewhat surprising tool at their disposal in the era of one-party Republican rule in President Trump’s Washington: power. It turns out that Republicans need the minority party to help them avoid a government shutdown at the end of April, when the current spending deal to fund the government expires. And Democrats have decided, for now at least, that they will use their leverage to reassert themselves and ensure the continued funding of their top priorities — by negotiating with Republicans.

Delaware River Turnpike Bridge to Reopen Late Tonight Crossing was closed for seven weeks as fractured truss member was repaired. Officials from the PA Turnpike Commission (PTC) and the New Jersey Turnpike Authority (NJTA) today announced that they expect to reopen the jointly owned Delaware River Bridge sometime late tonight. The 1.25-mile-long bridge, which carries traffic between the two states, first closed Jan. 20 when a complete fracture was discovered in the superstructure beneath the westbound lanes on the Pennsylvania side in Bristol Township, Bucks County. “Many people were greatly inconvenienced by this closure over the last seven weeks, and...

The last thing President Donald Trump needs on his 100th day in office is a government shutdown. So with four weeks to go, Trump and Republican leaders are trying to salvage priorities like his wall along the Mexico border and immediate increases in defense spending without stumbling into a politically toxic government shutdown in another month. The temporary government-wide spending bill runs out at midnight April 28, and since Trump needs Democratic help in getting the legislation done, Republicans are already tamping down expectations. Rep. Chris Collins, R-N.Y., a Trump ally, predicted that the legislation would be kept mostly free...

After Democratic lawmakers’ years of shrieking and televised temper tantrums over how shutting down the federal government somehow approximates treason, Democrats have suddenly embraced the tactic in their quest to keep the nation’s borders wide open for Muslim terrorists and illegal aliens. Democrats are threatening to force a shut-down of the government after it runs out of operating funds after April 28. Outnumbered in both houses of Congress, and facing a Republican in the White House for the first time in eight years, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and other Democrats say they will oppose efforts to finance President...

Ontario’s hell-bent determination to phase out coal-fired generation raised electricity rates without significantly improving air pollution levels, a new Fraser Institute report says. Ontario’s hell-bent determination to phase out coal-fired generation raised electricity rates without significantly improving air pollution levels, a new Fraser Institute report says. Report co-author Ross McKitrick, an economics professor at the University of Guelph, said the findings should act as a cautionary tale for Alberta and Ottawa currently going down the same road. Even though there was reliable information available at the time that showed Ontario coal was not a big player in common air pollution...

Senate Democrats are appealing to the working-class white voters they lost to President-elect Donald Trump by threatening a short government shutdown over issues important to them. Red-state Democrats up for reelection in 2018 are forcing the standoff over the year-end spending bill to keep the government open — insisting on health-care benefits for retired coal miners and requiring the use of American steel in infrastructure projects.

Senate Republicans on Tuesday accused Democrats of edging the country toward a government shutdown in order to paint the GOP-led Congress as ineffective. Democrats said on Tuesday they plan to reject a stop-gap funding bill proposed by Republicans that includes emergency funds to combat Zika. The federal government will shut down if Congress doesn’t pass a bill to maintain current funding levels by the end of the month.

Lawmakers return to Washington this week for an abbreviated election-season session in which they will likely do what they do best: the bare minimum. All Congress must do this month is keep the government from shutting down on Oct. 1 and, with any luck, finally provide money for the fight against the mosquito-borne Zika virus. Republicans controlling Congress promise they won’t stumble now, but the weeks ahead could prove tricky. A chief motivation for the September session, especially for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., is allowing lawmakers to return to campaigning as soon as possible. Republicans are scrambling to...

President Barack Obama wants more people to appreciate and visit America’s national parks as the park system nears its 100th birthday. […] The president plans a speech at Yosemite on Saturday, and he’s expected to highlight the economic benefits of the 400-plus sites managed by the National Park Service. Obama also is expected to discuss climate change and other threats to the park system, and highlight programs to encourage more people to visit parks. …

The courts? Closed most days. The bureau to start a business? Same thing. The public defender’s office? That’s been converted into a food bank for government employees. Step by step, Venezuela has been shutting down. This country has long been accustomed to painful shortages, even of basic foods. But Venezuela keeps drifting further into uncharted territory. In recent weeks, the government has taken what may be one of the most desperate measures ever by a country to save electricity: A shutdown of many of its offices for all but two half-days each week. But that is only the start of...

In a portion of an interview with Manu Raju that aired on CNN’s “New Day” on Thursday, Speaker of the House Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI)56% discussed his tenure as House Speaker and what he’s doing, including how he is handling the job differently from his predecessor John Boehner. But also, he vowed there would be no government shutdown. “I think I would do it better,” Ryan said. “Not to knock John, but I spend more time with all of our members on a continual basis. And so, because I was a person that wasn’t looking for this job, what I’m...

The U.S. Treasury Department on Thursday warned of a potential government shutdown in Puerto Rico and lengthy litigation if Congress doesn't approve a debt restructuring plan for the U.S. territory soon. Antonio Weiss, counselor to the U.S. Treasury secretary, issued the warning as House Republicans held hearings in Washington during a final push to address the island's failing economy. Weiss said he supports a plan that would temporarily suspend litigation to prevent a shutdown of basic government services on the U.S. territory and give time for voluntary negotiations with debt holders. ...

Federal Reserve Bank of New York officials secretly conducted real-time exercises during the 2011 and 2013 debt-limit crisis that demonstrated the federal government could function during a temporary shutdown by prioritizing spending, even as Treasury Secretary Jack Lew publicly claimed many times that such efforts were “unworkable,” according to a new report by the House Financial Services Committee obtained by The Daily Caller News Foundation. The staff report, to be released Tuesday, charges that Lew and other Obama administration officials deliberately misled Congress and the public during the federal budget and debt limit showdowns in both years. The committee will...

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy has announced that the U.S. House of Representatives is postponing votes it had expected to hold on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week and will not hold votes until Monday, Feb. 1--as a result of the heavy snowstorm that hit Washington, D.C. on Friday and Saturday. ...

A few weeks after Congress passed critical spending legislation that fully funded Planned Parenthood and the Affordable Care Act, Republicans this week will take a symbolic stand by once again trying -- and failing -- to repeal the law. "We owe it to the American people to take our best shot at repealing Obamacare, and that's what we'll do next week," Rep. Vicky Hartzler (R-Mo.) said Saturday in the Republican radio address. ...