Five hurdles to avoiding a government shutdown

[nitpicker]

http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/senate/328930-five-hurdles-to-avoiding-a-government-shutdown

Five hurdles to avoiding a government shutdown

Congress is scrambling to avoid political landmines as lawmakers face a tight timeline to avoid a government shutdown later this month. With two weeks until the April 28 funding deadline, lawmakers are locked in negotiations over a funding bill that would likely last until the end of September. Eager to show they can govern, Republican leaders are pledging they’ll meet the deadline and avoid a short-term funding bill, but the talks face last-minute hurdles.

Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) is warning the White House to stay on the sidelines of the talks, pledging that Democrats will oppose any bill that includes “poison pill” riders. But Trump’s budget chief, Mick Mulvaney, says lawmakers need to include Trump’s priorities if they want the president to sign spending bills.

Here are five hurdles that could stand in the way of keeping the government open.

ObamaCare payments

President Trump’s threat to withhold ObamaCare insurance payments is throwing an eleventh-hour wrench into the negotiations. The president floated the idea during an interview with the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday, saying, “what I think should happen — and will happen — is the Democrats will start calling me and negotiating.”

The payments, known as cost-sharing reductions (CSRs), reimburse insurers for giving discounted deductibles to low-income ObamaCare enrollees. Insurers are warning that uncertainty about the future of the payments could force them to increase premiums or withdraw from the ObamaCare market altogether.
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Sanctuary cities

A fight over immigration looms large over the funding negotiations. Mulvaney told the Wall Street Journal that Trump wants a provision included in the funding bill allowing states to restrict federal grant money for cities that don’t follow immigration laws. Trump signed an executive order earlier this year defunding so-called “sanctuary cities,” but that order is now tied up in court.

Asked about the “hard line” he is urging lawmakers to take, Mulvaney argued allowing cities to not follow the law “was just not an option.” “I am absolutely stunned that local towns, counties, cities ... think that they can flout federal law and not pay a penalty. That just doesn’t make sense to ordinary people, and it certainly doesn’t make sense to this administration,” Mulvaney told the Mike Gallagher show.
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Border security

GOP leaders had signaled they were preparing to leave a key Trump priority —money to pay for a southern border wall — out of the bill in order to avoid a shutdown. “My guess is that comes together better without the supplemental,” Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) told reporters late last month, asked about the wall funding.

But Mulvaney has said during a string of interviews this week that the president wants to see additional border security funding included in the bill, warning that “elections have consequences.”
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Miners healthcare and pensions

Rust-belt lawmakers are turning their attention to the end-of-the-month shutdown deadline as part of their latest push to get a “permanent” fix on the healthcare and pensions for miners and their families. “We’re doing everything humanly possible,” Manchin told The Hill before lawmakers left for the Easter recess. “I’ve been working through Chuck Schumer … and that’s the highest priority we have with our caucus.”

A spokesman for Manchin said that currently only healthcare was likely to be included in the government funding bill but the West Virginia senator would “fight” for the pension provision.
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Defense money

A long running fight over defense spending is expected to come to a head with the government funding deadline looming.

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), two of Congress’s most vocal defense hawks, are warning they will vote against any short-term deal because of its impact on the Pentagon. “I will vote against it. I will filibuster against it. I will lay down on the floor of the Senate against it,” McCain told reporters. Graham separately added that he would also oppose a continuing resolution (CR) “because it destroys the Pentagon,” unless it’s a one-week stopgap to let lawmakers finalize a yearlong deal.

The Pentagon has warned lawmakers against passing a continuing resolution for funding because it would limit their ability to launch new programs, including new military equipment, and could hamstring their ability to move around war funding.
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