British Prime Minister Theresa May's government remained defiant after Parliament took partial control of the stalled process of leaving the European Union, arguing Tuesday that the maneuvering simply underscores the need for lawmakers to approve her twice-defeated deal.

The House of Commons voted late Monday to wrest the parliamentary timetable away from the government temporarily so that lawmakers can vote on alternatives to the withdrawal agreement May negotiated with the

The government, which usually controls the scheduling of votes in Parliament, said the lawmakers' move "upends the balance between our democratic institutions and sets a dangerous, unpredictable precedent for the future."

 

 But Health Secretary Matt Hancock told the BBC that the government won't "pre-commit" to accepting the option backed by lawmakers because they may come up with a plan that is impractical.

"If the Commons voted for the sun to rise in the west, the government would not be able to implement that," he said.

"The best way through this impasse is the one deal that has been negotiated with the that can be delivered quickly now," Hancock said, referring to the prime minister's agreement.

May's authority is hanging by a thread after 30 members of her defied her instructions and voted for Parliament to take control of the process. Three government ministers resigned rather than vote with the government.

Almost three years after Britons voted to leave the EU, the date and terms of its departure are up in the air.

Last week the granted Britain a delay to the scheduled March 29 exit date, saying that if Parliament approved the proposed divorce deal, the UK would leave the EU on May 22.

If not, the government has until April 12 to tell the 27 remaining EU countries what it plans to do leave without a deal, cancel Brexit or chart a path to a new option.

May is continuing to push for approval of her deal with the EU even though the House of Commons overwhelmingly rejected it during votes in January and March.

She has warned pro-Brexit legislators that continuing to reject the deal could lead to a "slow Brexit" that postpones the country's departure indefinitely.

Richard Harrington, who resigned as a business minister to vote in favor of Monday's motion, accused the government of "playing roulette" with people and businesses lives by failing to resolve Britain's Brexit impasse.

Lawmakers who backed Monday's motion, which passed 329-302, hope to find an alternative that can command a majority in Parliament by holding a series of "indicative votes" on other options.

Those alternatives could include a "soft Brexit" that maintains close economic ties with the EU or scrapping Brexit entirely.

Jacob Rees-Mogg, a leading pro-Brexit Conservative, acknowledged that "the choice seems to be Mrs. May's deal or no Brexit."



"I have always thought that 'no deal' is better than May's deal, but May's deal is better than not leaving at all," he said on the Conservative Home podcast.

Cabinet ministers gathering Tuesday for their regular meeting were expected to demand that lawmakers be allowed to follow their consciences, rather than vote the party line, during the debate Wednesday on alternatives to the prime minister's deal.

"Parliament should seek urgently to resolve the situation by considering alternatives freely, without the instruction of party whips, and government should adopt any feasible outcome as its own in order to progress matters," said Alistair Burt, who quit his role in the Foreign Office after defying May on Monday.

"I did not believe the government was prepared to do that, so had to vote to ensure this happens. </s> US congressional talks yield deal to fund government through September

U.S. congressional negotiators have hammered out a bipartisan agreement on a spending package to keep the federal government funded through the end of the current fiscal year on Sept. 30, a senior congressional aide said on Sunday, Reuters reported.

The House of Representatives and Senate must approve the deal before the end of Friday and send it to President Donald Trump for his signature to avoid the first government shutdown since 2013.

On Friday, congressional sources familiar with the negotiations said the deal could include an increase in defense spending for this year totaling around $15 billion. But details of the agreement that was struck over the weekend were not immediately available.

Democrats were pushing to protect funding for women's healthcare provider Planned Parenthood and sought additional Medicaid money to help the poor in Puerto Rico get healthcare.

The House is likely to vote first, probably early in the week and send the measure to the Senate for approval before Friday's midnight deadline when existing funds expire.

Republicans who control Congress and opposition Democrats have been in intensive negotiations for weeks over the legislation that would provide around $1 trillion in Washington money for an array of federal programs, from airport and border security operations to soldiers' pay, medical research, foreign aid and domestic education programs.

If this deal passes Congress and the president signs it into law, as expected, it would mark the first significant bipartisan legislation passing Congress this year and since Trump took office on Jan. 20.

Congress averted a U.S. government shutdown last Friday by voting for a stop-gap spending bill that gave lawmakers another week to work out federal spending over the final five months of the fiscal year.

Even with the new progress, lawmakers are running far behind schedule, as legislation funding government operations in fiscal year 2017 were supposed to have been completed by last Oct. 1.

Democrats backed Friday's stop-gap bill a day after House Republican leaders again put off a vote on major healthcare legislation sought by Trump and opposed by Democrats to dismantle the 2010 Affordable Care Act, dubbed Obamacare, after Republican moderates balked at provisions added to entice hard-line conservatives.

It was unclear whether Republicans might try this week to pass a healthcare bill in the House.

Trump earlier bowed to Democratic demands that the spending legislation for the rest of the fiscal year not include money to start building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border he said is needed to fight illegal immigration and stop drug smugglers.

The Trump administration also agreed to continue funding for a major component of Obamacare despite Republican vows to end the program. </s> (WASHINGTON) — The federal government shut down at the stroke of midnight Friday, halting all but the most essential operations and marring the one-year anniversary of President Donald Trump’s inauguration in a striking display of Washington dysfunction.

Last-minute negotiations crumbled as Senate Democrats blocked a four-week stopgap extension in a late-night vote, causing the fourth government shutdown in a quarter century. The slide toward closure lacked for high drama: The Senate vote was all but predetermined, and since the shutdown began at the start of a weekend, many of the immediate effects will be muted for most Americans.

Still, it comes with no shortage of embarrassment for the president and political risk for both parties, as they wager that voters will punish the other at the ballot box in November.

Social Security and most other safety net programs are unaffected by the lapse in federal spending authority. Critical government functions will continue, with uniformed service members, health inspectors and law enforcement officers set to work without pay. But if no deal is brokered before Monday, hundreds of thousands of federal employees will be furloughed.

After hours of closed-door meetings and phone calls, the Senate scheduled its late-night vote on a House-passed plan. It gained 50 votes to proceed to 48 against, but 60 were needed to break a Democratic filibuster. A handful of red-state Democrats crossing the aisle to support the measure, rather than take the politically-risky vote. Four Republicans voted in opposition.

In an unusual move, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell allowed the roll call to exceed 90 minutes — instead of the usual 20 or so — seemingly accommodating the numerous discussions among leaders and other lawmakers. Still as midnight passed and the calendar turned, there was no obvious off-ramp to the political stalemate. Each party expressed resolve in its position — and confidence that the other would suffer the wrath of voters.

Even before the vote, Trump was pessimistic, tweeting, “Not looking good” and blaming the Democrats who he said actually wanted the shutdown “to help diminish the success” of the tax bill he and fellow Republicans pushed through last month.

Democrats balked on the measure in an effort to pressure on the White House to cut a deal to protect “dreamer” immigrants — who were brought to the country as children and are now here illegally — before their legal protection runs out in March.

The president watched the results from the White House residence, dialing up allies and affirming his belief that Democrats would take the blame for the shutdown, said a person familiar with his conversations but not authorized to discuss them publicly.

Predictably, both parties moved swiftly to blame one another. Democrats laid fault with Republicans, who control both chambers of Congress and the White House and have struggled with building internal consensus. Republicans declared Democrats responsible, after they declined to provide the votes needed to overcome a filibuster in the Senate over their desire to force the passage of legislation to protect some 700,000 younger immigrants from deportation.

Republicans branded the confrontation a “Schumer shutdown” and argued that Democrats were harming fellow Americans to protect “illegal immigrants.”

Trump had brought Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer to the White House Friday afternoon in hopes of cutting a deal. But the two New Yorkers, who pride themselves on their negotiating abilities, emerged without an agreement, and Republicans and Democrats in Congress continued to pass off responsibility.

“We made some progress, but we still have a good number of disagreements,” Schumer said upon returning to Capitol Hill. Budget Director Mick Mulvaney told CNN that “Not much has changed” over the course of the day, but he predicted a deal would be reached by Monday, when most government offices are to reopen after the weekend.

Democrats in the Senate had served notice they would filibuster the government-wide funding bill that cleared the House Thursday evening. They were seeking an even shorter extension that they think would keep the pressure on the White House to cut a deal to protect the “dreamer” immigrants.

Trump first described his discussion with Schumer as an “excellent preliminary meeting,” tweeting that lawmakers were “making progress – four week extension would be best!” But that optimism faded as the evening wore on.

Senate GOP leader John Cornyn of Texas said Trump told Schumer to work things out with McConnell and House Speaker Paul Ryan. McConnell did not attend the meeting because he was not invited, a Senate GOP aide said.

Trump had been an unreliable negotiator in the weeks leading up to the showdown. Earlier this week he tweeted opposition to the four-week plan, forcing the White House to later affirm his support. He expressed openness to extending the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, only to reject a bipartisan proposal. His disparaging remarks about African and Haitian immigrants last week helped derail further negotiations.

Trump had been set to leave Friday afternoon to attend a fundraiser at his Palm Beach, Florida, estate marking the one-year anniversary of his inauguration but delayed his travel.

“I think the president’s been very clear: he’s not leaving until this is finished,” Mulvaney told reporters.

As word of the Schumer meeting spread, the White House hastened to reassure Republican congressional leaders that Trump would not make any major policy concessions, said a person familiar with the conversations but not authorized to be quoted by name.

On Capitol Hill, McConnell said Americans at home would be watching to see “which senators make the patriotic decision” and which “vote to shove aside veterans, military families and vulnerable children to hold the entire country hostage… until we pass an immigration bill.”

Across the Capitol, the House backed away from a plan to adjourn for a one-week recess, meaning the GOP-controlled chamber could wait for a last-minute compromise that would require a new vote. But it wasn’t coming Friday night.

“We can’t keep kicking the can down the road,” said Schumer, insisting on more urgency in talks on immigration. “In another month, we’ll be right back here, at this moment, with the same web of problems at our feet, in no better position to solve them.”

The four-week measure would have been the fourth stopgap spending bill since the current budget year started in October. A pile of unfinished Capitol Hill business has been on hold, first as Republicans ironed out last fall’s tax bill and now as Democrats insist on progress on immigration. Talks on a budget deal to ease tight spending limits on both the Pentagon and domestic agencies are on hold, as is progress on a huge $80 billion-plus disaster aid bill.

Before Thursday night’s House approval, GOP leaders sweetened the stopgap measure with legislation to extend for six years a popular health care program for children from low-income families and two-year delays in unpopular “Obamacare” taxes on medical devices and generous employer-provided health plans.

A shutdown would be the first since 2013, when tea party Republicans — in a strategy not unlike the one Schumer is employing now — sought to use a must-pass funding bill to try to force then-President Barack Obama to delay implementation of his marquee health care law. At the time, Trump told Fox & Friends that the ultimate blame for a shutdown lies at the top. “I really think the pressure is on the president,” he said.

Arguing that Trump’s predecessors “weaponized” that shutdown, Mulvaney said Friday the budget office would direct agencies to work to mitigate the impact this time. That position is a striking role-reversal for the conservative former congressman, who was one of the architects of the 2013 shutdown over the Affordable Care Act.

With no agreement by midnight, the government would begin immediately locking its doors. The impact would initially be spotty — since most agencies would be closed until Monday — but each party would be gambling the public would blame the other.

In the event of a shutdown, food inspections, federal law enforcement, airport security checks, and other vital services would continue, as would Social Security, other federal benefit programs and military operations. </s> WASHINGTON (AP) — The federal government shut down at the stroke of midnight Friday, halting all but the most essential operations and marring the one-year anniversary of President Donald Trump’s inauguration in a striking display of Washington dysfunction.

Last-minute negotiations crumbled as Senate Democrats blocked a four-week stopgap extension in a late-night vote, causing the fourth government shutdown in a quarter century. The slide toward closure lacked for high drama: The Senate vote was all but predetermined, and since the shutdown began at the start of a weekend, many of the immediate effects will be muted for most Americans.

Still, it comes with no shortage of embarrassment for the president and political risk for both parties, as they wager that voters will punish the other at the ballot box in November.

Social Security and most other safety net programs are unaffected by the lapse in federal spending authority. Critical government functions will continue, with uniformed service members, health inspectors and law enforcement officers set to work without pay. But if no deal is brokered before Monday, hundreds of thousands of federal employees will be furloughed.

After hours of closed-door meetings and phone calls, the Senate scheduled its late-night vote on a House-passed plan. It gained 50 votes to proceed to 48 against, but 60 were needed to break a Democratic filibuster. A handful of red-state Democrats crossing the aisle to support the measure, rather than take the politically-risky vote. Four Republicans voted in opposition.

In an unusual move, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell allowed the roll call to exceed 90 minutes — instead of the usual 20 or so — seemingly accommodating the numerous discussions among leaders and other lawmakers. Still as midnight passed and the calendar turned, there was no obvious off-ramp to the political stalemate. Each party expressed resolve in its position — and confidence that the other would suffer the wrath of voters.

Even before the vote, Trump was pessimistic, tweeting, “Not looking good” and blaming the Democrats who he said actually wanted the shutdown “to help diminish the success” of the tax bill he and fellow Republicans pushed through last month.

Democrats balked on the measure in an effort to pressure on the White House to cut a deal to protect “dreamer” immigrants — who were brought to the country as children and are now here illegally — before their legal protection runs out in March.

The president watched the results from the White House residence, dialing up allies and affirming his belief that Democrats would take the blame for the shutdown, said a person familiar with his conversations but not authorized to discuss them publicly.

Predictably, both parties moved swiftly to blame one another. Democrats laid fault with Republicans, who control both chambers of Congress and the White House and have struggled with building internal consensus. Republicans declared Democrats responsible, after they declined to provide the votes needed to overcome a filibuster in the Senate over their desire to force the passage of legislation to protect some 700,000 younger immigrants from deportation.

Republicans branded the confrontation a “Schumer shutdown” and argued that Democrats were harming fellow Americans to protect “illegal immigrants.”

Trump had brought Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer to the White House Friday afternoon in hopes of cutting a deal. But the two New Yorkers, who pride themselves on their negotiating abilities, emerged without an agreement, and Republicans and Democrats in Congress continued to pass off responsibility.

“We made some progress, but we still have a good number of disagreements,” Schumer said upon returning to Capitol Hill. Budget Director Mick Mulvaney told CNN that “Not much has changed” over the course of the day, but he predicted a deal would be reached by Monday, when most government offices are to reopen after the weekend.

Democrats in the Senate had served notice they would filibuster the government-wide funding bill that cleared the House Thursday evening. They were seeking an even shorter extension that they think would keep the pressure on the White House to cut a deal to protect the “dreamer” immigrants.

Trump first described his discussion with Schumer as an “excellent preliminary meeting,” tweeting that lawmakers were “making progress – four week extension would be best!” But that optimism faded as the evening wore on.

Senate GOP leader John Cornyn of Texas said Trump told Schumer to work things out with McConnell and House Speaker Paul Ryan. McConnell did not attend the meeting because he was not invited, a Senate GOP aide said.

Trump had been an unreliable negotiator in the weeks leading up to the showdown. Earlier this week he tweeted opposition to the four-week plan, forcing the White House to later affirm his support. He expressed openness to extending the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, only to reject a bipartisan proposal. His disparaging remarks about African and Haitian immigrants last week helped derail further negotiations.

Trump had been set to leave Friday afternoon to attend a fundraiser at his Palm Beach, Florida, estate marking the one-year anniversary of his inauguration but delayed his travel.

“I think the president’s been very clear: he’s not leaving until this is finished,” Mulvaney told reporters.

As word of the Schumer meeting spread, the White House hastened to reassure Republican congressional leaders that Trump would not make any major policy concessions, said a person familiar with the conversations but not authorized to be quoted by name.

On Capitol Hill, McConnell said Americans at home would be watching to see “which senators make the patriotic decision” and which “vote to shove aside veterans, military families and vulnerable children to hold the entire country hostage… until we pass an immigration bill.”

Across the Capitol, the House backed away from a plan to adjourn for a one-week recess, meaning the GOP-controlled chamber could wait for a last-minute compromise that would require a new vote. But it wasn’t coming Friday night.

“We can’t keep kicking the can down the road,” said Schumer, insisting on more urgency in talks on immigration. “In another month, we’ll be right back here, at this moment, with the same web of problems at our feet, in no better position to solve them.”

The four-week measure would have been the fourth stopgap spending bill since the current budget year started in October. A pile of unfinished Capitol Hill business has been on hold, first as Republicans ironed out last fall’s tax bill and now as Democrats insist on progress on immigration. Talks on a budget deal to ease tight spending limits on both the Pentagon and domestic agencies are on hold, as is progress on a huge $80 billion-plus disaster aid bill.

Before Thursday night’s House approval, GOP leaders sweetened the stopgap measure with legislation to extend for six years a popular health care program for children from low-income families and two-year delays in unpopular “Obamacare” taxes on medical devices and generous employer-provided health plans.

A shutdown would be the first since 2013, when tea party Republicans — in a strategy not unlike the one Schumer is employing now — sought to use a must-pass funding bill to try to force then-President Barack Obama to delay implementation of his marquee health care law. At the time, Trump told Fox & Friends that the ultimate blame for a shutdown lies at the top. “I really think the pressure is on the president,” he said.

Arguing that Trump’s predecessors “weaponized” that shutdown, Mulvaney said Friday the budget office would direct agencies to work to mitigate the impact this time. That position is a striking role-reversal for the conservative former congressman, who was one of the architects of the 2013 shutdown over the Affordable Care Act.

With no agreement by midnight, the government would begin immediately locking its doors. The impact would initially be spotty — since most agencies would be closed until Monday — but each party would be gambling the public would blame the other.

In the event of a shutdown, food inspections, federal law enforcement, airport security checks, and other vital services would continue, as would Social Security, other federal benefit programs and military operations. </s> The Senate blocked two proposals on Thursday to reopen the government, but amid the ongoing stalemate, there’s some hope that Washington might be inching closer toward ending a shutdown now on its 34th day.

In a 52-44 vote, the Senate rejected House-backed legislation that would fund the government through February 8. The Senate, in a 50-47 vote, blocked legislation endorsed by President Donald Trump that provided $5.7 billion for his border wall and granted temporary protection for some undocumented immigrants.

The bills were expected to fail.

Six Republicans — Susan Collins of Maine, Cory Gardner of Colorado, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, Mitt Romney of Utah and Johnny Isakson of Georgia joined Democrats to vote in favor of the continuing resolution.

“I’ve said all along we should fund border security, keep the government open,” Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) said prior to the vote. “We can walk and chew gum at the same time.” He added that Coloradans “don’t understand why Congress can’t get its job done.”

When asked about the Republican defections on the continuing resolution bill, Senate Majority Whip John Thune (R-S.D.) said that members are “frustrated and want to do everything they can do move the process forward.”

The dueling votes marked the first time the Senate has formally moved on government funding since the shutdown began. And senators this week signaled a note of optimism, saying that even though Thursday’s bills were going to fail, they at least represented movement and possibly the start of negotiations to end the shutdown.

“I think it certainly puts everybody on record, and if nothing else I would hope at least that this would get the conversation going again,” Thune said.

About 20 dozen House Democrats marched over to the Senate during the vote in an unsuccessful effort to pressure Republicans to back to the clean spending bill.

House Democrats are also preparing a counteroffer of sorts to Trump that reportedly would provide at least $5 billion in border security, but no new funding for the wall. Democrats on Thursday, however, were tightlipped leaving a planning meeting in Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office and refused to detail what level of border funding will be in the proposal or how far-reaching it is.

The proposal, set to be made public Friday, suggests pressure is mounting to find a solution to the impasse. Earlier this week, a group of centrist House Democrats drafted a letter to Pelosi asking that she give Trump a vote on his border wall or a border security package in exchange for re-opening the government. The Democrat-controlled House has also repeatedly passed legislation to re-open the government — most recently a spending bill Thursday to re-open the Department of Homeland Security.

Some House Democrats have privately dismissed the DHS proposal as a messaging document meant to ease their rank-and-file’s frustrations with the prolonged stalemate. But House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.) said Thursday he’s confident the Democratic counteroffer will be a starting point for serious talks with the president once the government is reopened.

“I maintain hope that people will come to their senses real soon. And I’m very confident that the proposals we’re putting forward will gain traction and will become a significant part of whatever the negotiations are going forward,” Clyburn said. “We won’t get 100 percent of what we want and we want the president to understand he won’t get 100 percent of what he wants.”

House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) said Thursday that part of the reason is Democrats haven’t decided how to present the offer – whether just to roll out a DHS bill or send Trump an accompanying letter outlining what exactly they will support on the border.

“The letter is still a work in progress. As to what format it will be, we’re not sure. It could be that or it could be another format,” Thompson told reporters.

Another issue up for debate: Whether to include any money for new fencing in some spots along the border.

“The question is still being debated as to whether any new fencing would be included,” Thompson said, although another Democratic source with knowledge of the bill disputed that.

Still, both parties remain publicly dug-in. Democrats have been adamant that Trump must re-open the government before they negotiate on a border security deal, while Trump says he will not re-open the government without funding for his border wall.

“They know full well that we’re here,” Pelosi told reporters on Thursday. “It’s the president of the United States. We’d meet with him anytime he wants to meet.”

Even before Thursday votes, the shutdown appeared to be taking a toll, with Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) yelling at Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) over the shutdown.

“These crocodile tears that the senator from Texas is crying for first responders are too hard for me to take,” Bennet said. “How ludicrous it is that this government is shut down over a promise the president of the United States couldn’t keep. And that America isn’t interested in having him keep.”

Cruz responded that he never “bellowed or yelled” at one of his colleagues on the Senate floor.

The Senate’s vote against stop-gap legislation to fund the government temporarily comes more than one month after it voted by voice vote for similar legislation to keep the government open through Feb. 8.

Thursday’s funding bill had some differences from the legislation passed in December, however. The House-passed bill included funding for disaster relief, some limits on physical barrier construction and changes to Medicaid.

On Wednesday, Pelosi and Trump sparred over whether the president would deliver his State of the Union address from the House of Representatives before the government was re-opened. Trump responded initially that he would find an alternative venue, but then said he would wait until the shutdown ended to deliver the speech. Clyburn said he was a "bit more hopeful" about ending the shutdown after Trump conceded to Pelosi on the speech.

Meanwhile, even as he demands Congress give him money for his border wall, Trump has also declined to rule out declaring a national emergency to build his border wall — an explosive and legally dubious move but one that could offer an alternative route to ending the shutdown.

Burgess Everett, James Arkin and Sarah Ferris contributed to this report. </s> WASHINGTON–Congress approved a $1.3-trillion spending bill after hours of wrangling and a flurry of unsuccessful Democratic efforts to force legislators to take up a measure to protect young immigrants brought to the country illegally as children.

The vote – late Thursday morning for the House and early Friday for the Senate – came as legislators faced a Friday deadline for a government shutdown. It also came just hours after the release of the 2,232-page bill, meaning that few voting on the measure had a clear idea of what it included, as members openly admitted.

The measure, which passed 256 to 167 in the House and 65 to 32 in the Senate, will go to President Donald Trump, who has promised to sign it. The Senate vote was delayed over objections from a number of senators including Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., who complained leaders were trying to push through the bill.

Paul forced an hours-long shutdown in February over a similar complaint that leaders were ramming through a complicated bill.

Supporters of this bill, which will fund the government through the end of September, said it was the best possible outcome in the current partisan climate.

"It is no way a perfect bill," Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Texas, said as he introduced it as a bipartisan achievement. "That, I think I learned a long time ago, is hard to get through and signed by the president."

Before the House vote, Steny H. Hoyer, D-Md., hefted a foot-tall stack of papers that, along with a second similar-sized stack, represented the bill and its backup documentation. He slammed them onto a table.

"I ask any member, any member of this House, to join me in the well if you've read this bill," Hoyer thundered as he demanded a delay in the voting. "No one is joining me. Ladies and gentlemen of America, I have not read this bill."

Democrats sought to derail the measure to force the House to vote on their long-delayed effort to protect the young immigrants known as "Dreamers" from deportation. They had been protected by an Obama administration program that President Trump canceled, but that has been kept operating under a temporary court order pending legal challenges.

But no deal acceptable to Democrats, Republicans and Trump could be put together by the deadline for inclusion in the massive spending bill. Republicans have refused a simple up-or-down vote on protections for Dreamers, and Trump has demanded full funding for his proposed border wall as well as cuts in legal immigration.

"When will they have their moment of opportunity, a reprieve from worrying, from looking over their shoulders every day?" asked Rep. Darren Soto, D-Fla. "When will the Dreamers finally get to dream?"

House and Senate negotiators reached tentative agreement late Wednesday on a deal for the spending bill, which significantly boosts military and domestic spending even as it puts off several issues on which legislators could not find a compromise.

Among the spending was what Republicans described as the largest boost to the military in 14 years, as well as additional money for domestic programs such as school safety, transportation, education, science and the financing of efforts to blunt opioid abuse.

In a moment that was somewhat jarring given past Republican efforts to curb domestic spending, Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., lauded the measure's inclusion of spending for child care programs, scientific research and other items.

"Money well spent," he said.

The appropriations bill followed a February deal in which leaders agreed to add tens of billions of dollars to military and non-military spending over the next two years. The new spending levels, if approved by both houses, will begin Saturday.

Republicans pushed the bill as a way to make up for military cutbacks under Obama-era budget deals. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., introducing the bill in his chamber, noted that it included a 2.4 percent salary increase for service members.

"This has been a top priority on our side of the aisle," he said.

The measure also included a host of measures that gained ground after several recent mass shootings. They included strengthening the national background check system, financing efforts to train school officials to spot potential assailants before they act, and a statement that gives the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention permission to research the effect of gun violence. Since 1996, a spending measure had been interpreted as banning gun research.

Even as members lauded themselves for passage of the long-overdue measure – the funding year has already included five resolutions to keep the government running and two separate shutdowns – antipathy about both the process and the spending included in it was obvious.

"It's not what's in the bill that I have a problem with, it's what I don't know is in the bill," said Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass. "This place is broken, this process stinks."

For some Republicans, the combination of heightened military spending and domestic funding demanded by Democrats was too much. Not only Democrats but some Republicans on Thursday noted that had the bill been put forth under Democratic control of Congress or the White House, Republicans would have reacted with disdain.

Sen. Bob Corker, a Republican from Tennessee who is retiring, said the spending bill could serve as evidence that the Republican Party had "lost its soul."

"It does have to be a wake-up call for people as to whether that's the case," he said. "I'm discouraged about where we are today. I'm discouraged that we continue to be engaged in generational theft."

Trump, whose proposed budget was largely ignored by the congressional negotiators, signaled through aides on Thursday that he would sign the measure once it is approved by the Senate.

"Is it perfect? No," said Mick Mulvaney, Trump's budget director. "Were we ever going to get that? No. That's not how the process works." </s> WASHINGTON – Republican leaders in the U.S. House officially conceded Thursday afternoon what most observers already knew: They did not have the votes to pass a major overhaul of President Obama's 2010 health care law.

Early in the day, members and staffers close to leadership were predicting a late evening vote on the bill. The vote deficit, constantly charging, was minimal, they insisted.

But by the afternoon, it was clear the legislation was in severe jeopardy.

Twice on Thursday, U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan postponed his weekly news conference. Those two moments were widely interpreted as a tell that he did not have the votes. Soon after his second delay, leadership confirmed to several news outlets they would not have a vote on the House floor Thursday night.

Texas Republicans for the most part were prepared to back the bill. In a delegation rife with committee chairmen and allies of leadership, most fell in line behind Ryan. Some were even excited to vote for repeal. Democrats were lined up against the proposal.

A Democratic member told the Tribune that their caucus was instructed to stay in town at least through Friday. Sources from both parties said that members were anticipating the possibility of continued negotiations and votes through the weekend.

But it was the replacement angle that tore the Republican conference apart. Some viewed the current proposal as leaving far too much of the Obama-era overhaul in place.

With no Democratic support, Republicans had a narrow margin of error in pushing the bill through the chamber. There were three Texas holdouts: U.S. Reps. Joe Barton of Ennis, Louie Gohmert of Tyler and Randy Weber of Friendswood. All three are members of a group called the Freedom Caucus who have bedeviled GOP vote counters for years.

Freedom Caucus members, including Barton and Gohmert, attended an intense negotiation with President Trump earlier on Thursday, an effort to salvage Thursday's vote. Hours later, House Republicans pulled the bill.

In the minutes after the vote cancelation news broke, Capitol Hill insiders were at a loss about what will happen next.

Republican members, staffers and consultants throughout the week would hardly entertain the idea that the Thursday vote would be canceled. By the afternoon, they were bracing for that lost legislative momentum to derail other agenda items, most notably tax reform.



Yet others noted that there were many times in 2009 and 2010 in which the Democratic push for a health care overhaul appeared dead.

Late Thursday afternoon, after it was clear that a vote wasn't going to happen that evening, Gohmert entered Ryan's office for a meeting between leadership and the Freedom Caucus.

"We've laid out our requests," he told reporters as he rushed by.

Meet Paige: Our new Facebook Messenger bot helps you keep track of the 85th Legislature. Subscribe by messaging HELLO to m.me/texastribune.org. Learn more. </s> The United States House of Representatives has passed a budget deal early on Friday following approval by the Senate, thus putting an end to a brief government shutdown caused by a senator who delayed the bill so it would miss the funding deadline.

The lower chamber of Congress passed the measure in a 240-186 vote, with some Democratic Party members joining Republicans to pass the measure.

The $300-billion bill, which directs a funding increase for defense and domestic expenditures, was now set to head to President Donald Trump's desk for his signature, in order for the government's reopening to come into effect.

Republican Senator Rand Paul from Kentucky had filibustered a resolution to avert the shutdown on Thursday, arguing that his party was becoming complicit in deficit spending and describing it as the very definition of hypocrisy. </s> Washington (CNN) House and Senate leaders are close to an agreement on a bipartisan Russian sanctions package and could announce a deal as early as Friday afternoon, according to three sources familiar with the negotiations.

Congress hopes to approve the bill and put it on the President's desk before it breaks for the August recess.

Bipartisan negotiators are finalizing some tweaks to several areas of the bill, including details on Congress' power to enforce sanctions and changes that were added at the request of US businesses who expressed concerns the current bill could put them at a competitive disadvantage.

The vote on the major sanctions package comes as the Trump Administration is dealing with multiple probes into allegations the President's campaign colluded with Russian officials during the 2016 election campaign.

The Trump administration pushed for weakening the provisions in the bill giving Congress veto power if the administration eased Russia sanctions, but that provision is included in the agreement with just a clarifying change.

The Senate passed a bill 98-2 last month, but the legislation was stalled over procedural disputes in the House. Outside business groups and several US energy, auto, aerospace, manufacturing and banking companies have also lobbied both chambers to narrow several provisions in the bill, arguing the measure could inadvertently penalize them for business deals that would be snagged in new sanctions.

House Democrats raised objections over the scope of the review process, which gives Congress veto power if the administration tries to ease sanctions. The Democrats wanted to go further and add language that would allow members other than the speaker of the House to offer a resolution of disapproval if the administration was failing to enforce sanctions.

The revised bill clarifies which areas Congress can bring up for votes. GOP members were concerned that opening up the review procedures could result in the House and Senate getting bogged down on technical issues. Some expressed concerns it would mean Congress would have to vote on approving or blocking licenses for US businesses, an authority many want to remain with the Treasury Department.

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy has also been pushed to attach an already-passed North Korea sanctions bill to the package, which will be part of the agreement, according to the sources. Members on both sides agree that the latest missile tests merit a muscular response from Congress and the House already passed that legislation in May, 419-1.

Adding the North Korean sanctions, as well as the other changes, will require the Senate to pass the sanctions package for a third time. The House already raised one technical issue with the original bill which triggered a second Senate vote at the end of June.

One Republican source familiar with the process stresses that the final bill will amount to an "unprecedented" sanctions package. The measure also includes sanctions on Iran, but in terms of giving Congress oversight over new Russian penalties, the source said the bill is "far stronger than any review component agreed to on Iran."

To respond to concerns from energy companies, the agreement reached will ensure that new sanctions do not affect a major pipeline used to transport oil from Kazakhstan through Russia to Ukraine. Those who wanted that change argued that this pipeline has been helping Ukraine lessen its dependence on Russian oil, and if it was covered would undermine not just US oil companies, but national security priorities.

The bill similarly addresses a natural gas pipeline that goes between Russia and Germany. German officials warned Congress that the legislation could have ensnared sanctions on their government or businesses at a time when the country was working with the US in the region.

The revised bill also clarifies that American companies cannot do business with already sanctioned defense interests in Russia. There were concerns that US companies wanting to finalize transportation deals could be barred under the current bill. The agreement includes language instructing the Treasury Department to create a list of Russians in the intelligence and defense sectors subject to sanctions.

The Trump administration has lobbied Congress to weaken several provisions in the bill, but sources tell CNN that any potential veto threat would be a bad idea because it's expected that the bipartisan Russian sanctions deal will be approved by veto-proof majorities in both chambers.
The U.S. House postpones the vote due to a lack of support and slow progress in dealmaking.