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Dec. 21, 2018 / 7:29 PM GMT
By Rebecca Shabad
WASHINGTON — All eyes were on the Senate Friday afternoon as an effort to vote on a bill to fund President Donald Trump’s border wall teetered on the edge, hours ahead of a deadline to pass new funding and avoid a possible partial government shutdown.
On a simple majority vote that began at 12:30 p.m. and appeared likely to be held open for several hours, it was unclear if the Senate would be able to proceed to a final vote on the government funding measure passed by the House on Thursday night.
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Nearly 90 minutes after the vote began, the tally was stuck at 43 in favor of the measure and 46 opposed.
If either vote ultimately were to fail — which was viewed as likely — it was unclear how Republicans in both chambers would proceed Friday, as a shutdown loomed.
The type of procedural vote being held does not typically pose a challenge for Republicans, with more questions surrounding the final vote on passage — one which requires 60 votes, which means Democratic opposition can ultimately block it.
But retiring Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., a frequent Trump critic, joined Democrats in opposing the motion to proceed to the bill, leaving the measure one GOP defection away from failure. Another retiring senator — Bob Corker, R-Tenn. — appeared to be mulling his vote as well.
Earlier in the morning, Trump railed against Democrats on Twitter, repeating his willingness to shut down the government over funding for his border wall before meeting with Republican senators at the White House ahead of the vote, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., the chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee.
After the meeting, Trump said at a signing ceremony of a bipartisan criminal justice reform bill at the White House that “chances are probably very good” for a shutdown.
“It’s on the Democrats. It’s a Democratic shutdown,” Trump said. “Now it’s up to the Democrats. We’re prepared for a very long shutdown.”
After the meeting at the White House, McConnell spoke on the Senate floor and voiced support for the House-passed bill with the $5 billion in border wall funding and what he called “much-needed investments in disaster relief for hard-hit communities.”
“I support the additional border security and disaster aid that the House added to the bill and I’m proud to vote for it,” he said. “Let’s advance this legislation.”
McConnell slammed Democrats for their unwillingness to pass border wall funding.
On Friday morning, Trump had also called again on McConnell to invoke the nuclear option and kill the Senate rule that effectively requires 60 votes in the Senate to pass appropriations bills — a demand that McConnell has dismissed numerous times.
If the procedural vote Friday afternoon were to fail, it would make that demand meaningless.
Ahead of the vote, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Friday there wasn’t enough Senate support “for an expensive, taxpayer-funded border wall.”
“President Trump, you will not get your wall,” Schumer said on the Senate floor. “Abandon your shutdown strategy. You’re not getting your wall today, next week or on Jan 3.”
Frank Thorp V and Liz Johnstone contributed.