The Senate blocked an amendment on Thursday, 50-to-47, that would have ended the partial government shutdown by trading a 3-year DACA amnesty for $5.7 billion in border funding. The motion to bring the amendment to the floor needed 60 votes. The Senate also blocked an amendment offered by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), 52-to-44, from coming to the floor for a vote. The Schumer amendment would have provided the closed federal agencies with funding for two weeks.
The failure of both bills demonstrates that a bill with Pres. Trump's requested $5.7 billion for border fencing and a bill without any funding for border fencing can't pass through the Senate. Leaders from both Parties are reportedly working together to reach a compromise to end the five-week partial government shutdown.
The first amendment to fail reflected Pres. Trump's offer that he proposed over the weekend. The proposal would have traded a 3-year amnesty for both DACA recipients and TPS recipients from certain countries for the border fencing funding. It also included a number of changes to the asylum system, but nothing that would slow the stream of asylum-seekers heading to the U.S.-Mexico border from Central American and other areas of the world.
One Democrat, Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, supported Pres. Trump's proposal. Two Republicans voted against it because of the amnesty provisions -- Sens. Tom Cotton of Arkansas and Mike Lee of Utah.
Six Republicans supported Sen. Schumer's amendment, including Sens. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, Susan Collins of Maine, Cory Gardner of Colorado, Johnny Isakson of Georgia, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, and Mitt Romney of Utah.
