Senate Republicans said Friday they expect to start voting soon on a funding deal to keep federal agencies open, with just hours before a partial government shutdown is set to begin.
But even if that deal is passed, at least a short shutdown is all but certain because the House of Representatives isn’t scheduled to return to Washington until Monday. Both chambers would be required to vote to approve the spending bills before the package goes to President Donald Trump to sign.
Without a funding deal, a partial shutdown of federal operations will begin at 12:01 a.m. ET Saturday.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., hasn’t publicly dropped his opposition to the funding deal. But Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., told reporters after exiting a meeting of Senate Republicans Friday that Graham’s demands have mostly been worked out.
“I think they’ve been able to work with Sen. Graham,” Rounds said, adding in the early afternoon that he expects votes in “the next couple hours.”
Graham said on the Senate floor earlier Friday, “I will not lift my hold on this bill until I get guaranteed a vote on my legislation” to criminalize so-called sanctuary city policies. Graham’s wants to impose criminal penalties on state and local officials “who willfully interfere with the enforcement of federal immigration laws.”
The senator also said he is demanding a vote on an amendment to address the so-called Arctic Frost investigation by then-special counsel Jack Smith. That amendment would require officials to notify senators if their phone records are obtained in a criminal investigation.
The House last week included language in the spending package to repeal a law that would have allowed senators to sue for up to $500,000 if their phone records were obtained during Arctic Frost. Graham criticized House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., for the move.
Graham’s holdout status effectively blocks the Senate from quickly considering the funding deal.
Trump on Thursday in a Truth Social post encouraged lawmakers to support the deal that would fund most of the federal government through the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30. Senate leaders had planned a vote on the agreement for Thursday night, but it was scuttled.
The agreement would strip out funding for the Department of Homeland Security and pass five other bills to appropriate money for government agencies.
DHS, which has been the target of scathing criticism by Democrats over its aggressive immigration enforcement actions in Minnesota, would be temporarily funded by a stopgap measure under the agreement with longer-term funding being revisited later.
