Capitol Hill is facing a major time crunch to avoid its third government shutdown of the Congress.
There are just four nights to go before a Valentine’s Day funding lapse for the Department of Homeland Security; some senators are scheduled later this week to attend the Munich Security Conference, which starts on Friday. We’re told many members are hoping to fly out on Thursday night on previously scheduled trips.
Meanwhile, there are no clear signals from centrist Democrats that they will support a short-term funding extension for the agency to allow nascent — and so far fruitless — negotiations to continue on changes to President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune says the length of a stopgap bill depends on what Democrats agree to. And he hasn’t ruled out keeping the Senate in if Congress fails to fund DHS.