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While everyone has been focused on the House—will it be Nancy Pelosi and Democrats resisting to get a Dream Act vote, or the Freedom Caucus maniacs being their usual selves—the shutdown threat has been in plain sight all along: Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY).
Midday on Thursday, he decided to let leadership know that he was not going to give his consent to bring up the budget bill, not if he couldn’t have an amendment to restore budget caps. The Senate requires unanimous consent to bring the spending bill—the bill that will avert a government shutdown at midnight tonight—and Paul won’t give it. Around 5:45 ET, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer came to the floor together to see if they couldn’t placate Paul with a special budget point of order, giving him his opportunity to make a formal objection to the bill. He refused, holding out for his amendment.
Arguing that there are lots of senators with lots of amendments out there, and giving one to him would be unfair to all the others, McConnell and Schumer tried to get him to relent. That’s the last argument to work with Paul—he doesn’t care about all the others. So, as of about 5:55 ET, Paul is holding the floor, filibustering this deal, ready to go until “3:00 in the morning” he says.
Mind you, it’s not at all clear that Speaker Paul Ryan has the votes on the House side. Reportedly, he needs 75 Democrats to vote with him. Which means he’s lost close to 100 Republican votes on this.
Which means Democrats can and should still hold out for the Dream Act.
Friday, Feb 9, 2018 · 1:24:23 AM +00:00
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Joan McCarter
House Democratic whip Steny Hoyer wants Speaker Ryan to rush a one-day spending bill to the floor to avoid a shutdown. No response yet from Ryan. Over in the Senate, Paul is still objecting to bringing the bill up.
Friday, Feb 9, 2018 · 1:29:25 AM +00:00
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Joan McCarter
Looks like Paul is going to push this until 1:00 AM, when the cloture vote he’s been objecting to “ripens” and McConnell can force it. There will probably be a final vote sometime around 3:00 AM in the Senate. Maybe. Who the hell knows. Then there’s the House. This is no way to run a government.
Friday, Feb 9, 2018 · 1:32:55 AM +00:00
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Joan McCarter
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A number of Senators continue to ask @RandPaul to allow vote now on budget bill, rather than at 1AM when it’s scheduled. He keeps objecting.
— Mark Knoller (@markknoller) February 9, 2018