President Donald Trump responded to the ongoing government shutdown Sunday morning by issuing a tweet urging Senate Republicans to consider using the nuclear option to pass the House’s Continuing Resolution bill and put an end to the shutdown.

“Great to see how hard Republicans are fighting for our Military and Safety at the Border,” Trump wrote. “The Dems just want illegal immigrants to pour into our nation unchecked. If stalemate continues, Republicans should go to 51% (Nuclear Option) and vote on real, long term budget, no C.R.’s!”

The shutdown was triggered Saturday morning after the Senate failed to pass the House’s Continuing Resolution bill, which would have funded the government for an additional four weeks and also extended the Children’s Health Insurance Program by six years.

According to CNBC, 45 Senate Democrats and five Senate Republicans voted against the funding bill late Friday, including Sens. Rand Paul R-Ky., and Jeff Flake, R-Az.

For the bill to pass through the Senate, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell must muster up a minimum of 60 votes. However, were he to trigger the nuclear option, he’d require only a 51-vote “simple majority.”

Politico noted Sunday morning that McConnell has signaled his opposition to pursuing the nuclear option, despite the fact that he used the same trick last year to push through the confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch.

The reason for his hesitation lies with the potential repercussions. Were Democrats to retake only two additional Senate seats in the upcoming midterm elections, they would then be permitted to follow the Republicans’ lead and exploit the nuclear option to push through their own agenda.

To be clear, it was former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Democrat, who first triggered the nuclear option in November 2013, using it “to change the rules so that federal judicial nominees and executive-office appointments can advance to confirmation votes by a simple majority,” as reported then by The Washington Post.

This move paved the way for McConnell to apply the nuclear option to Gorsuch’s confirmation, and if he were to trigger it again — this time for just a continuing resolution — it would set a precedent that some conservatives find concerning.

Moreover, it remains unclear if even the nuclear option would provide McConnell with enough votes to pass the CR, given that two out of the Senate’s 51 Republicans voted against it Friday.

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Some worry that if McConnell applied the nuclear option, Sen. John McCain would vote against it.

“John McCain is a question mark, for example, both for health reasons and because if he participated in such a vote he might oppose the elimination of the filibuster,” Patterico of RedState pointed out.

Patterico further emphasized the worry among conservatives that “we’re likely looking at a wave election this year. Democrats could retake control of both houses of Congress.”

Regardless, McConnell plans to keep the Senate in session all day Sunday, including up until as late as 1 am Monday morning, according to Bloomberg.

“We’ll be right back at this tomorrow and as long as it takes,” he said Saturday evening.

The problem is Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has repeatedly made it clear he has zero interest in a CR and would rather that any potential deal “sets budget caps for defense and non-defense spending, protects young undocumented immigrants from deportation, and provides disaster relief funds.”

And unless either McConnell pursues the nuclear option or Schumer moderates his position, the shutdown may very well continue for far longer than anyone had initially expected. </s> Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Sunday said he is opposed to using the “nuclear option” to end the government shutdown, breaking with President Donald Trump.

“The Republican Conference opposes changing the rules on legislation,” a spokesman for McConnell told The Hill.

Earlier in the day, Trump tweeted that Republicans should use the option, which would allow the Senate to pass the long-term budget with 51 votes instead of by 60 votes.

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“Great to see how hard Republicans are fighting for our Military and Safety at the Border. The Dems just want illegal immigrants to pour into our nation unchecked. If stalemate continues, Republicans should go to 51% (Nuclear Option) and vote on real, long term budget, no C.R.’s!,” Trump wrote.

Republicans currently hold 51 seats in the Senate, and the nuclear option would allow them to pass the bill without needing a single Democratic vote.

McConnell’s statement came on the second day of the government shutdown, which means that “non-essential” federal employees are not supposed to report to work, otherwise known as being furloughed. Both essential and non-essential workers do not receive compensation, although they are supposed to be paid retroactively.

Both parties have blamed each other for the shutdown, which is centered on a dispute about protection for undocumented immigrants who arrived in the United States as children. Democrats want to ensure that 700,000 “dreamers” who arrived on the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program are not deported, while Trump has said he wants to include dreamers in a large legislative package that would be accompanied by funding for the wall and ramped up security along the U.S. and Mexico border.

And even if Republicans were to use the nuclear option, it is unclear whether they would be able to pass the funding bill along party lines, as four Republicans voted against it on Friday and five Democrats voted for it. </s> WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on the budget battle (all times local):

Senate leaders have reached an agreement to reopen the government.

Democrats have yielded and ended their delaying tactics against a bill financing federal agencies through Feb. 8.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer says in exchange, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has agreed to begin debating immigration by that date.

McConnell says the end to the standoff shows "the American people didn't understand" why Democrats shut down the government because they wanted to help "illegal immigrants."

The Senate has started a vote to advance the bill reopening government. It is expected to pass easily, and House approval is expected later.

Democrats are aligning behind a plan to reopen the federal government as the Senate heads toward a key vote.

Several Democratic senators predict a proposal to fund the government until Feb. 8 will move forward, overcoming a Democratic filibuster. That would clear the way for an end to the three-day shutdown.

Democrats appear to have jumped on board after two days of negotiations that ended with new reassurances from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell that the Senate will consider immigration proposals in the coming weeks.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar said Monday morning she believed Democrats and Republicans now have "a path forward."

Florida Democrat Bill Nelson is predicting a resounding yes from Democrats on the plan.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says he hopes and intends to resolve immigration and a host of other issues by early February in an effort to come to bipartisan agreement to reopen the federal government.

Senate Democrats blocked a House-passed temporary funding bill to reopen the government through Feb. 16. A pending Senate measure would last through Feb. 8.

Opening the Senate Monday, McConnell said that if they could not find bipartisan solutions on immigration, military spending, disaster aid and other issues by the Feb. 8 deadline then he would hold a vote on those matters. Top Democrat Chuck Schumer did not appear on the floor to respond.

Several members of both parties met Monday morning to try and resolve the shutdown mess.

White House Budget Director Mick Mulvaney is defending President Donald Trump's lack of outreach to Democratic lawmakers during the government shutdown.

Trump did not speak with any Democratic senators over the weekend. Asked why, Mulvaney said Trump spoke with Democrats before the shutdown and will speak to them when it is over.

But he says: "we are not going to negotiate immigration in the middle of the shutdown."

House Speaker Paul Ryan says if the Senate approves a temporary spending bill to reopen the government through Feb. 8, the House will approve it, too.

Senate Democrats had blocked a stopgap measure passed by the House to keep the federal bureaucracy operating through Feb. 16. But speaking on "Fox and Friends," Ryan says the new date works for the House.

The Wisconsin Republican also says negotiations on an immigration deal are taking place in good faith. Democrats want to protect young immigrants in the country illegally and are skeptical of Republican pledges to bring up free-standing immigration legislation next month.

Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut says on MSNBC he has "zero confidence" that Ryan will bring legislation to shield the roughly 700,000 immigrants known as "Dreamers."

President Donald Trump is accusing Democrats of prioritizing services and security for noncitizens over U.S. citizens.

He says in a tweet Monday: "Not good!"

Some government functions shut down over the weekend. Democrats are rejecting a funding bill until Republicans agree to protect 700,000 immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally as children.

The Republican president says in a second tweet Monday that "Democrats have shut down our government in the interests of their far left base. They don't want to do it but are powerless!"

Trump's earlier tweet appeared to undercut comments by his legislative affairs director, Marc Short, who told CNN that the immigrants in question are law-abiding and "productive to our society."

Short says the administration wants to "find a pathway for them" to stay in the U.S.

CIA Director Mike Pompeo says the government shutdown won't affect the spy agency's operations.

He tells "CBS This Morning" in an interview Monday: "We're going to continue crushing our adversaries whether the government's open or closed."

A dispute in Congress over spending and immigration forced scores of federal government agencies and outposts to close their doors early Saturday. But many government functions, particularly those involving national security, are considered essential and won't be affected.

Pompeo also says he doesn't agree that the stalemate on Capitol Hill that led to the shutdown is a signal of dysfunction in Washington.

He says, "The American people are having complicated discussions about their priorities." He says that's entirely appropriate in a democracy.

The government shutdown is set to complicate the beginning of the workweek. Over the weekend, the Senate inched closer but ultimately fell short of an agreement that would have reopened federal agencies.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said negotiations were still underway late into Sunday night, with a vote to break a Democratic filibuster on a short-term funding bill scheduled for noon Monday.

Under the proposal taking shape, Democratic would agree to a three-week spending measure — until Feb. 8 — in return for a commitment from the Republican leadership in the Senate to address immigration policy and other pressing legislative matters in the coming weeks. But there is no agreement yet.

Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. </s> By ZEKE MILLER and LISA MASCARO, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump invited congressional leaders from each chamber to a White House briefing on border security Wednesday as the partial government shutdown wore on over funding for a border wall, with Trump tweeting: “Let’s make a deal?”

The briefing would happen the day before the Democrats take control of the House, but the exact agenda wasn’t immediately clear, according to a person with knowledge of the briefing who was not authorized to speak publicly about the issue and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

The invite comes after House Democrats released their plan to re-open the government without approving money for a border wall — unveiling two bills to fund shuttered government agencies and put hundreds of thousands of federal workers back on the job. They planned to pass them as soon as the new Congress convened Thursday.

Trump spent the weekend saying that Democrats should return to Washington to negotiate, firing off Twitter taunts. He then revised his aides’ comments to state that he really still wants to build a border wall. And last week, he blamed House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi for the impasse that led to the shutdown.

On Tuesday morning, after tweeting a New Year’s message to “EVERYONE INCLUDING THE HATERS AND THE FAKE NEWS MEDIA,” Trump tweeted, “The Democrats, much as I suspected, have allocated no money for a new Wall. So imaginative! The problem is, without a Wall there can be no real Border Security.”

But he seemed to shift tactics later in the day, appealing to Pelosi, who is expected to take over as speaker when the new Congress convenes.

“Border Security and the Wall ‘thing’ and Shutdown is not where Nancy Pelosi wanted to start her tenure as Speaker! Let’s make a deal?” he tweeted.

Whether the Republican-led Senate, under Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, would consider the Democratic bills — or if Trump would sign either into law — was unclear. McConnell spokesman Donald Stewart said Senate Republicans would not take action without Trump’s backing.

“It’s simple: The Senate is not going to send something to the president that he won’t sign,” Stewart said.

Even if only symbolic, the passage of the bills in the House would put fresh pressure on the president. At the same time, administration officials said Trump was in no rush for a resolution to the impasse.

Trump believes he has public opinion on his side and, at very least, his base of supporters behind him, the officials said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

White House officials, including the departing chief of staff, had indicated that Trump’s signature campaign pledge to build the wall would not be fulfilled as advertised. Chief of staff John Kelly told the Los Angeles Times in an interview published Sunday that Trump abandoned the notion of “a solid concrete wall early on in the administration.”

The Democratic package to end the shutdown would include one bill to temporarily fund the Department of Homeland Security at current levels — with $1.3 billion for border security, far less than the $5 billion Trump has said he wants for the wall — through Feb. 8 as talks continued.

It would also include another measure to fund the departments of Agriculture, Interior, Housing and Urban Development and others closed by the partial shutdown. It would provide money through the remainder of the fiscal year, to Sept. 30.

Democrats under Pelosi were all but certain to swiftly approve the package in two separate votes Thursday. They would take place after the election of a new House speaker, a contest Pelosi was expected to win as leader of the new House majority.

The White House did not respond to multiple requests for comment on the House proposal. Republican senators left for the holidays refusing to vote on any bills until all sides, including Trump, were in agreement. The lawmakers were frustrated that Trump had dismissed their earlier legislation.

The president has not said he would veto the Democratic legislation, if the bills were to land on his desk. But a prolonged crisis could hobble House Democrats’ ability to proceed with their agenda, which included investigations of the president and oversight of his administration, including Russian interference in the election.

At least one Republican, South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, encouraged Trump to use the budget impasse as an opportunity to address issues beyond the border wall. But a previous attempt to reach a compromise that addressed the status of “Dreamers” — young immigrants brought to the U.S. as children — broke down last year as a result of escalating White House demands. Graham said Trump was “open minded” about his proposal

The partial government shutdown began Dec. 22 after Trump bowed to conservative demands that he fight to make good on his vow and secure funding for the wall before Republicans lose control of the House on Wednesday. Democrats have remained committed to blocking any funding for the wall.

With neither side engaging in substantive negotiation, the effect of the partial shutdown was set to spread and to extend into the new year.

___

 Associated Press writer Kevin Freking contributed to this report. </s> Two competing measures to end the partial US government shutdown have fallen short in the Senate as lawmakers explore an option to end a month-long impasse with the White House and fund government operations for three weeks while talks continue.

A bill backed by Republican President Donald Trump to end the shutdown by funding the wall he wants to build on the US-Mexico border and a separate bill supported by Democrats to reopen shuttered agencies without such funding did not get the votes required to advance in the 100-member chamber.

Immediately following the failed effort, Democratic and Republican senators spoke on the Senate floor and urged quick passage of a three-week, stopgap funding bill to end the partial government shutdown for now.

Some Democrats pledged to support more border security funding than was included in the Democrats' bill that was blocked in the Senate on Thursday.

But the White House issued a warning. A three-week funding bill would "only work if there is a large down payment on the wall," spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said in a statement.

Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen said a measure to temporarily reopen shuttered federal agencies would be unveiled later on Thursday to end the 34-day shutdown, which was triggered by Trump's demand for money to fund a wall.

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said he had spoken to Trump about a three-week funding bill.

"All of us believe if we have three weeks with the government open that we could find a way forward to produce a bill that he would sign, that would be good for everybody in the country," Graham said. "To my Democratic friends, money for a barrier is required to get this deal done."

Trump has touted Republican unity during the longest shutdown in US history.

But in a sign of cracks in that resolve, or a desire for compromise, six Republican senators voted with Democrats on their measure to temporarily reopen government agencies without money for Trump's wall. They included freshman Senator Mitt Romney, his party's 2012 presidential nominee.

House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat, told reporters earlier she was willing to meet with Trump to discuss the shutdown.

Trump has said he wants $US5.7 billion ($A8 billion) for a border barrier, opposed by Democrats, as part of any legislation to fund about a quarter of the federal government for the year.

"Our Country has a chance to greatly reduce Crime, Human Trafficking, Gangs and Drugs. Should have been done for decades. We will not Cave!" Trump said in a tweet, promoting the benefits of a wall.

His demand, and Democrats' refusal to meet it, has sparked a shutdown of agencies that had not already received federal funding, leaving 800,000 federal workers, as well as private contractors, without pay and struggling to make ends meet, the effects on government services and the economy reverberating nationwide.

A Reuters/Ipsos poll last week found more than half of Americans blamed Trump for the shutdown. </s> WASHINGTON – A group of rank-and-file House Democrats turned down an invitation to have lunch with President Donald Trump at the White House on Tuesday, a snub that underscores the extraordinary divisions that have brought negotiations over the government shutdown to a standstill.

The invited Democrats, including centrist-leaning freshman and sophomore members, skipped the meeting amid calls for unity from Democratic leaders and fellow lawmakers who had voiced concerns the meeting would be little more than a photo opportunity that bolsters Trump.

Their decision marked another failure in the White House’s ongoing attempt to splinter Democrats, who instead are holding firm against Trump’s demands for $5.7 billion for his border wall.

The stalemate led to the partial government shutdown that was in its 25th day Tuesday, the longest such closure in history, with 800,000 federal workers going without pay.

“Today, the president offered both Democrats and Republicans the chance to meet for lunch at the White House. Unfortunately, no Democrats will attend,” said White House press secretary Sarah Sanders. “The president looks forward to having a working lunch with House Republicans to solve the border crisis and reopen the government. It’s time for the Democrats to come to the table and make a deal.”

Shortly before the statement from Sanders, House Democratic leaders had made clear they did not want to see individual lawmakers breaking off to meet with the president – although they said they were not explicitly discouraging anyone from attending.

“The question that I think everyone can reasonably ask is, is he inviting people to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue to really try to resolve this problem or to create a photo op so he can project a false sense of bipartisanship?” said Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., who chairs the House Democratic Caucus. “That is a question that I think every individual member will have to entertain for themselves.”

Invited lawmakers included Reps. Stephanie Murphy, D-Fla., and J. Luis Correa, D-Calif., both leaders of the centrist Blue Dog Coalition, and Rep. Abigail Spanberger, D-Va., a freshman lawmaker who is also a Blue Dog member.

In a statement, Murphy cited a scheduling conflict, while a spokesman for Correa said the congressman “welcomes the opportunity to talk with the president about border security, as soon as the government is reopened.”

Trump’s proposed meeting Tuesday marks the second attempt in as many days to start a dialogue that works around the gridlocked talks between Trump and top Democrats.

A bipartisan group of senators met late Monday to try to find a way out of the shutdown impasse. Their gathering did not produce a consensus. As of Tuesday, no new meetings were scheduled nor was it clear whether the bipartisan group would convene again.

Both the House and the Senate canceled recesses that had been scheduled for next week, with leaders saying they would stay in town to work through the shutdown.

The White House’s strategy for weeks has been to splinter the Democrats, but they have failed repeatedly as Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has aligned himself closely with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. The newest iteration of this approach for the White House has been to try to pry loose rank-and-file members from Schumer and Pelosi’s side, but that appeared to have failed as of Tuesday.

This was a key test for both Democratic leaders and also freshman Democrats, many of whom had sent mixed signals about abiding by leadership during their campaigns.

Rep. Katie Hill, D-Calif., a leader of the new class of freshman House Democrats, said the sentiment was clear at a freshman class meeting Tuesday morning that no Democrat should join Trump at the White House.

“I would say that that is definitely the general feeling, is that whoever goes to the White House is kind of setting themselves up to be used as a stunt,” Hill told reporters at the Capitol.

The House, newly under Democratic control, has passed spending bills to reopen portions of the government unrelated to the border wall, with Democratic leaders saying Trump must support their legislation and reopen the government before they negotiate on his border security request.

Trump has refused, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has said repeatedly that he will not put any legislation on the Senate floor without Trump’s support.

Schumer on Tuesday called on McConnell to “end the pain,” open the government and allow them to debate border security.

Asked if the Senate might potentially try to override a Trump veto to end the shutdown, McConnell on Tuesday replied: “Of course not.”

Amid the confusion surrounding Tuesday’s meeting, the White House sought to organize a new meeting with House Democrats for Wednesday, sending out an invitation to bipartisan members of the Problem Solvers Caucus, according to two Democrats familiar with the invitation. They spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss confidential communications.

Trump’s GOP allies in Congress criticized Democrats for the Tuesday snub.

“In case you needed MORE proof that Democrats are more interested in stopping the President than helping the country,” Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, wrote on Twitter Thursday. “They rejected President Trump’s invitation to meet at the White House. They refuse to come to a compromise to secure the border and end the shutdown.”

Democratic leaders have worked to maintain a united front opposing any increase in funding for border barriers and security beyond a $1.3 billion annual allocation already in place.

“The Democrats are completely unified, and our objective is to reopen government,” said Rep. Katherine Clark, D-Mass., a member of the House Democratic leadership.

At a closed-door meeting of the House Democratic Caucus on Tuesday morning, Pelosi began by reading results of the latest Quinnipiac University poll, showing voters blame Trump more than Democrats for the shutdown, according to an aide in the room who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the private gathering.

The aide said Pelosi went on to tell her caucus: “We want to talk about our values in terms of immigration and how that’s always been bipartisan, including George Herbert Walker Bush, Ronald Reagan and the rest. Not to go into that, but to just say that I understand you all want to know what’s the next step, but just the message of ‘Open up government so we can have this discussion’ is a very important message.”

The outreach from the White House came with concerns mounting in the Capitol over the impacts of the government shutdown, with both sides dug in and no negotiations happening between Trump and congressional leaders. Trump continues to demand billions for his wall – and Democratic leaders continue to refuse.

The 800,000 affected federal workers comprise those who have been furloughed and those who are working without pay. Congress has signaled its intent to give workers back pay for the shutdown period, but many workers missed their first check last week, leading to broad hardship and union lawsuits.

The shutdown is also complicating the government’s ability to perform duties millions of Americans depend on.

The Treasury Department, including the Internal Revenue Service, is unfunded, complicating preparations for the height of tax season. White House officials warned earlier this month that the nation’s food stamp program was at risk of running out of funding in March if the shutdown is not resolved.

The departments and agencies affected by the shutdown make up about a quarter of the parts of the federal government that are funded by Congress.

The Pentagon is mostly unaffected, since a spending bill for the military was passed by Congress and signed by Trump in 2018. Congress and the president also passed legislation to fund the Labor Department, the Department of Health and Human Services and others before Trump’s demands for wall money ground negotiations on other spending bills to a halt.

Programs such as Medicare, Social Security and Medicaid also are unaffected, because their budgets proceed automatically, without the need for annual congressional appropriations. The Russia investigation of special counsel Robert Mueller also is unaffected; it is paid for by a permanent, dedicated funding stream. </s> As the Senate prepared for a procedural vote at noon, President Trump went on Twitter to argue Democrats are acting at the behest of their "far left base" in demanding protections for young undocumented immigrants in negotiations to reopen the government.

"The Democrats are turning down services and security for citizens in favor of services and security for non-citizens. Not good!" he wrote.

In a television interview, House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) called Democrats' position "bizarre" and "just ridiculous."

"We were in bipartisan, earnest, good-faith DACA negotiations before the shutdown," Ryan said on "Fox & Friends," referring to talks over how to resolve the status of immigrants brought to the United States illegally as children.

Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Sunday night that the two sides had "yet to reach an agreement on a path forward" after moderate senators spent the day trying to bridge the gap between the two sides.

Their proposal — to link a three-week extension of government funding to the consideration of an immigration bill in the Senate — prompted McConnell to announce that he would be willing to consider debating various immigration proposals on the floor in mid- to late February if an agreement on immigration were not other­wise reached before then by party leaders.

"Let's step back from the brink," he said. "Let's stop victimizing the American people and get back to work on their behalf."

Government shutdown foreshadows a 2018 of inaction and gridlock

But Democrats doubted the Senate Republican leader would follow through.

McConnell's pledge is "clearly inadequate, an empty promise, a transparent ploy without any commitment to making dreamers legislation part of a must-pass bill," Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) said in an interview with CNN.

Blumenthal said that in order to win enough Democratic support to reopen the government, McConnell should commit to including immigration legislation in the spending bill.

The effects of the shutdown over the weekend were relatively limited: halting trash pickup on National Park Service property, canceling military reservists' drill plans, switching off some government employees' cellphones.

But the shutdown's continuing into Monday, the start of the workweek, means that hundreds of thousands of workers will stay home and key federal agencies will be affected. Federal contractors will see payments delayed, and the Internal Revenue Service will slow its preparations for the coming tax season.

The impasse continues as it was unclear whether the public would blame the Republicans, who control the White House and Congress, or Democrats taking a stand on immigration while shuttering government agencies.

White House legislative affairs director Marc Short said progress was being made in the negotiations, despite the appearance of a logjam.

"I feel like there's been significant progress," Short said Monday in an interview with CNN, arguing he sees Democrats moving "toward our position." "I think that honestly there's a lot of progress here."

But whether Republicans can find compromise on immigration remained as uncertain as ever Sunday, with no clear backing from House Republican leaders or Trump, who showed no sign of retreating from his hard line on immigration.

Still, Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-Tex.) said he was optimistic the Senate would vote Monday to break the impasse. Schumer, he said, "wants to just give everybody a chance to chew on it and sort of understand it, and so that's why he didn't want to have the vote tonight."

Matt House, a spokesman for Schumer, said the Democrats "made some reasonable offers to Senator McConnell and he hasn't accepted them yet. The caucus is waiting for him to move some in our direction."

The bipartisan group scrambled for a compromise, but the decision ultimately belonged to McConnell and Schumer.

"We're trying to be helpful in showing them that there is a path forward," said Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), who hosted more than 20 fellow moderates in her office for an early afternoon meeting.

Sunday began with more of the partisan posturing that marked much of the previous week, delivered on the morning news programs, on the House and Senate floors, and in a presidential tweet.

Trump wrote that if the "stalemate continues," then Republicans should use the "Nuclear Option" to rewrite Senate rules and try to pass a long-term spending bill with a simple majority rather than the 60 votes needed to pass most legislation — a notion Trump has previously floated to McConnell's repeated dismissal.

The president otherwise remained uncharacteristically quiet, heeding the advice of senior advisers who argued that he has the upper hand over Schumer and the Democrats and that they would soon be forced to capitulate.

On the Senate floor, Schumer showed no signs of caving and kept pressure on Republicans.

"Not only do they not consult us, but they can't even get on the same page with their own president," he said. "The congressional leaders tell me to negotiate with President Trump; President Trump tells me to figure it out with the congressional leaders. This political Catch-22, never seen before, has driven our government to dysfunction."

As the clock ticked toward a scheduled 1 a.m. Monday vote — set by McConnell in part because of arcane Senate rules but later postponed — the moderates made the most visible progress toward a deal. Among the participants in the Collins meeting were a number of Democrats who are seeking reelection in states Trump won in 2016 — five of whom voted Friday against sparking the shutdown in the first place.

House Republicans are unusually united that the shutdown is Democrats’ fault

"There are more than just moderate Democrats or conservative Democrats — a majority of Democrats want it to end," said Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.).

All of that weighed on lawmakers who milled around the Capitol, many in flannel shirts, sweater vests and other casual garb.

"If it doesn't happen tonight, it's going to get a lot harder tomorrow," said a windbreaker-and-baseball-cap clad Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.), who has pressed for action on immigration legislation and met with the moderate group Sunday.

No firm proposal emerged from the meeting, but senators discussed a broad outline that could unlock a deal: modify the temporary spending bill now under consideration in the Senate to expire on Feb. 8, and then find some way to guarantee that immigration legislation moves forward in the interim.

The White House has said it supports the plan for funding through Feb. 8 but has been wary of making concessions on immigration. While legislation protecting Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals recipients could probably move through the Senate with Democrats and a handful of Republicans supporting it, Trump has rejected proposals along those lines, and House GOP leaders are under fierce pressure not to bring up any bill that a majority of Republicans would reject.

Speaking on ABC's "This Week," Short declined to provide assurances that the president would guarantee a vote on an immigration bill in exchange for a short-term spending deal. "We want to have the right resolution," he said.

Other Republicans also saw little advantage in making any concessions to advance legislation that would provide protections for "dreamers" — undocumented immigrants brought illegally to the United States as children, 690,000 of whom face potential deportation after Trump canceled the DACA program.

Shutdown dynamics highlight the state of politics on Trump’s anniversary

In a brief closed-door meeting of House Republicans, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) reassured lawmakers that there would be no negotiations on the issue as long as the government remained shuttered, affirming the White House position.

Cornyn told reporters that the deadline for action to address DACA remained March 5, when the last of the program's participants will see their protected status expire.

"We're more than happy to have a vote on it well before the deadline. We've committed to that," Cornyn said. "But turning the agenda over to Democrats who just shut down the government makes no sense to me. It just seems like it encourages bad behavior."

While there have been talks since early last year about trading DACA protections for more border security funding, as many Republicans want, negotiations have failed to produce a deal.

Democrats said they made a significant concession over the weekend, agreeing to put major funding behind Trump's promised border wall, something that has been anathema to liberals since the 2016 presidential election.

Schumer on Sunday said that in a Friday meeting, Trump "picked a number for the wall, and I accepted it."

"It would be hard to imagine a much more reasonable compromise," he added. "All along, the president saying, 'Well, I'll do DACA, dreamers, in return for the wall.' He's got it. He can't take yes for an answer. That's why we're here."

Rep. Luis V. Gutiérrez (D-Ill.), one of the most outspoken Democratic advocates for immigrant rights, said in a Sunday appearance on ABC's "This Week" that he would agree to the funding.

"I think the wall is a monumental waste of taxpayer money," he said. "Having said that . . . if that's what the hostage takers [demand for] the dreamers, if that's their ransom call, I say pay it."

But the concession was rejected on two fronts. Doubts remained that the Democratic rank and file would agree to wall funding — even with the blessing of Schumer and Gutiérrez. Asked about a deal that could deliver Trump as much as $20 billion for the border wall, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) scoffed, "Oh, come on."

"None of us is at a table where they're talking about $20 billion," she said. "Should there be fencing? Should there be technology? Should they mow the grass so that people can't hide in it? Should there be some bricks and mortar someplace? Let's see what works."

And Republicans themselves scoffed at Schumer's claim that he offered Trump precisely what was demanded. The Democratic offer, they said, fell short of the full, immediate funding the president sought and instead involved yearly installments of funding that could be subject to future shutdown threats.

Moreover, Republicans have demanded concessions on other aspects of the immigration system, including an end to rules authorizing permanent legal immigrants to sponsor family members for legal status and an end to a "diversity visa" program that distributes visas based on a lottery system.

The wall is "one of the three legs of this three-legged stool," said Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), a key House conservative. "I'm glad to hear that there is some movement there, but there's a couple of other legs of that stool that have to be put forth."

The battle lines over immigration have become especially firm as spending talks falter. Republican leaders have cast the shutdown as the product of Democrats' prioritization of undocumented immigrants over American citizens.

But a debate has opened up in the party about how far to push that argument. House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) questioned an online ad from Trump's campaign that said the president's immigration proposals are "right" and "Democrats who stand in our way will be complicit in every murder committed by illegal immigrants."

"I don't know if that's necessarily productive," Ryan said on CBS.

Most senators remained cautious about the developments, adding quickly after each burst of optimism that any vote late Sunday or early Monday could easily fall apart and that the moderate group was sparking discussion but was hardly in control.

Sen. Joe Donnelly (Ind.), one of the five Democrats who crossed over on Friday, said he and other Democrats met with Schumer on Sunday morning.

"The pitch is we need to do what's right for the country and he does, too. He feels the same way, and that's what we're trying to do," said Donnelly, who faces a tough reelection fight in a state Trump won.

Sean Sullivan, Paul Kane, Ed O'Keefe, Jacob Bogage, Cindy Boren, Jenna Johnson, Karoun Demirjian and Juliet Eilperin contributed to this report.

Read more at PowerPost </s> In an effort led by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Senate Republicans voted 51-48 on Wednesday to approve new rules to limit debate time for most of President Trump's nominees to 2 hours instead of the 30 hours now required.

The big picture: The new rule, approved by a procedural motion known as the "nuclear option," is designed to confirm Trump's nominees at a much faster pace. It affects nominations for Cabinet officials, circuit court judges and Supreme Court picks. But later on Thursday, McConnell is expected to make the change to speed up judicial nominees at the district court level as well. </s> For the second time in Donald Trump's presidency, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has triggered what is known as the "nuclear option."

On Wednesday, McConnell used Senate procedural tactics to bypass a 60-vote threshold required to overcome opposition to slashing the debate time for lower-level executive branch nominations, enabling him to do so with just a simple 51-vote majority. Later Wednesday, McConnell planned to use the same move to shorten debate time for district court nominations.

McConnell is pulling the lever on the nuclear option to make it so that non-Cabinet-level executive and district court nominations need only two hours of floor debate rather than the existing 30 hours of debate before a final confirmation vote is held.

Republicans tried to pass a resolution requiring as much on Tuesday, but the measure got just 51 of the 60 votes required for adoption.

With debate limited, it will be significantly easier for McConnell to get some of Trump's nominees confirmed. McConnell previously went nuclear on the confirmation of Supreme Court nominations, which had required 60 votes, in order to place Neil Gorsuch and, later, Brett Kavanaugh on the high court.

What is the nuclear option?

It's a last-resort, break-in-case-of-emergency way for the majority party in the Senate to overcome obstruction by the minority. It involves changing the rules of the Senate so that an action previously subject to a filibuster, and thus a 60-vote threshold, can pass with a simple 51-vote majority.

Where does the name come from?

Former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., coined the term because both parties saw it as an unthinkable final recourse, just like nuclear war. During a standoff over President George W. Bush's nominees in 2003, Republicans discussed invoking the parliamentary move by using the codeword "the Hulk" since it, like the superhero alter ego, cannot be controlled once it is unleashed.

Others, wanting to give it a positive spin, call changing the rules "the constitutional option."

Has the nuclear option been used before?

Senators have threatened to go nuclear for decades. In 1957, Vice President Richard Nixon wrote an advisory opinion that helped lay the groundwork for the procedural move.

But no one pushed the proverbial button until 2013, when Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., invoked the nuclear option to lower the 60-vote threshold to 51 for confirmation of executive branch nominees (such as Cabinet secretaries) and federal judges below the Supreme Court (such as for U.S. courts of appeal).

Reid justified the move by citing unprecedented obstruction from Senate Republicans, but members of both parties lamented the precedent it set. McConnell and Republicans repeatedly cited Reid's move as the basis for invoking the option regarding Supreme Curt nominees.

What does it mean?

As a result of the nuclear option being triggered, Trump and future presidents of either party will have a much easier time getting lower-level nominees confirmed — which has played no small part in McConnell and Trump having confirmed a record number of judges to the federal bench in such a short time.

With just 51 votes needed, judges can be approved on party lines. The 60-vote threshold made it so that, in most cases, a bipartisan consensus was needed.

Not only has this option been heavily discussed with regard to judicial and other nominees, but there have been increasing calls for it to be used to abolish the 60-vote threshold for legislation. Early in his presidency, Trump called for the 60-vote threshold to be eliminated so he would have an easier time with legislation, while, on the campaign trail, a number of Democratic candidates have expressed interest in ending the legislative filibuster so they can have an easier time passing their agendas.
U.S. President Donald Trump says on Twitter that if the shutdown stalemate continues, Republicans should consider the "nuclear option" parliamentary procedure in the Senate. Majority leader Mitch McConnell is opposed to taking this step, a spokesperson said.