A talking stick bipartisan negotiations and Hershey's Kisses: How the shutdown ended for now
Schumer
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell would say he intended to bring a real immigration debate to the Senate floor.  Senate Minority Leader Schumer  would reject  it  initially. And then a day later  McConnell would speak again and  Schumer  -- despite concerns from  his  left flank -- would vote to re-open the government with a three-week stopgap resolution  giving the rest of  his  conference permission to also vote "yes."
The group also acted as emissaries for leadership. While McConnell and Schumer didn't speak all day Saturday after the shutdown and only briefly on Sunday evening  members in the bipartisan group were keeping their leadership apprised of the discussions they were having. At one point  while shuffling in between offices on Sunday  Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina -- dressed in a very weekend outfit of khaki pants  a fleece jacket  running shoes and an orange Clemson hat -- was seen grabbing a handful of Hershey's Kisses from a bowl on his way into McConnell's office. Given the sheer number of visits Graham made to the office in pursuit of a resolution  one aide wondered if McConnell's candy stash could withstand a lengthy shutdown.
Nelson described that throughout the process   Schumer  was always willing to listen to their ideas and proposals  even if it wasn't always clear they could form the basis of an eventual deal.
" Schumer  was always receptive " Nelson said. "Because  Schumer  wanted something that would work and  he  knew that the present course we were on  at the end of the day  we didn't have the majority and we didn't have the White House  so we didn't have a lot of cards to play."
In a caucus meeting just before the vote on the three-week continuing resolution Monday   Schumer  made the case to  his  members that  he 'd gotten McConnell to move on immigration and still had other points of leverage: Still to come were the budget caps agreement where Republicans want a lot of money for defense; the next continuing resolution; and the March 5 DACA deadline that  he  said the GOP is fearful of breaching because they don't want to take the hit for seeing DACA recipients deported  according to a source in the room.
Merkley later met with  liberal activists who were furious at Schumer  and warned that  they  would withhold funding from Democrats in key races  one source said.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell would say he intended to bring a real immigration debate to the Senate floor.   [TGT] would reject   [TGT]   initially. And then a day later  McConnell would speak again and   [TGT] -- despite concerns from   [TGT]   left flank -- would vote to re-open the government with a three-week stopgap resolution  giving the rest of   [TGT]   conference permission to also vote "yes."
 [TGT]  also acted as emissaries for leadership. While McConnell and  [TGT]  didn't speak all day Saturday after the shutdown and only briefly on Sunday evening  members in  [TGT]  were keeping their leadership apprised of the discussions they were having. At one point  while shuffling in between offices on Sunday  Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina -- dressed in a very weekend outfit of khaki pants  a fleece jacket  running shoes and an orange Clemson hat -- was seen grabbing a handful of Hershey's Kisses from a bowl on his way into McConnell's office. Given the sheer number of visits Graham made to the office in pursuit of a resolution  one aide wondered if McConnell's candy stash could withstand a lengthy shutdown.
Nelson described that throughout the process    [TGT] was always willing to listen to their ideas and proposals  even if it wasn't always clear they could form the basis of an eventual deal.
"  [TGT] was always receptive " Nelson said. "Because   [TGT] wanted something that would work and   [TGT]   knew that the present course we were on  at the end of the day  we didn't have the majority and we didn't have the White House  so we didn't have a lot of cards to play."
In a caucus meeting just before the vote on the three-week continuing resolution Monday    [TGT] made the case to   [TGT]   members that   [TGT]  'd gotten McConnell to move on immigration and still had other points of leverage: Still to come were the budget caps agreement where Republicans want a lot of money for defense; the next continuing resolution; and the March 5 DACA deadline that   [TGT]   said the GOP is fearful of breaching because they don't want to take the hit for seeing DACA recipients deported  according to a source in the room.
Merkley later met with  [TGT] and warned that   [TGT]   would withhold funding from Democrats in key races  one source said.