GOP Senator Calls For Deal On Shutdown — Without Border Wall Funding

At least one Republican senator is calling for a continuing resolution to fully re-open the federal government, even without a deal to provide $5 billion in funding for a proposed border wall.

Colorado’s Republican Sen. Cory Gardner wants Congress to agree to end the government shutdown, which began on December 22, 2018, per reporting from The Hill. The partial shutdown has ended services, closed national parks, and threatens to do more damage as time passes.

Days before the shutdown began, the Senate had agreed to pass a continuing resolution that would have staved off a government shutdown until at least February of this year. However, the House of Representatives did not pass that bill, and passed its own, which included funding for the border wall that President Donald Trump is demanding.

On Thursday, Gardner, who faces what will likely be a tough re-election campaign in 2020, stated his feelings on re-opening the government.

“I think we should pass a continuing resolution to get the government back open. The Senate has done it last Congress, we should do it again today,” he said.

Gardner added that he supported goals to get the funding for the border wall, “but we should continue to do our jobs and get the government open.”

Sen. Cory Gardner: “We should pass a continuing resolution to get the government back open.”https://t.co/30Xc0ylwTt

— Alex Bolton (@alexanderbolton) January 3, 2019

Gardner’s calls, for now, are likely to fall on deaf ears in the chamber he sits within. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky has stated on record that he won’t bring about a bill that would fully re-open the government without Trump’s go-ahead to do so.

“Let me say it again: The Senate will not take up any proposal that does not have a real chance of passing this chamber and getting a presidential signature,” McConnell said on the Senate floor on Thursday, according to reporting from Reuters.

Trump has said he won’t agree to any funding bill that won’t have border wall funding in the amount of at least $5 billion. During a testy meeting between Trump and Democratic leaders at the White House last month, he told Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer that he would take ownership of the shutdown.

Since that time, however, Trump has tried to blame Democrats for the continuation of the shutdown — even though the House of Representatives has only been in control of that party for a day.

Even before the shutdown began, Trump tried to shift blame away from himself.

“Democrats now own the shutdown!” Trump tweeted out the morning before the partial shutdown became official.