In a hasty announcement on Friday, President Trump will speak from the White House Rose Garden, delivering the message that both furloughed workers and the rest of America have been desperate to hear for more than a month: The government will be reopened, and it will come without the precondition of funding for the massive border wall that Trump promised his supporters during the 2016 campaign.
The announcement came after a private lunch among GOP Senators that broke into infighting among colleagues, with Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin reportedly shouting “This is your fault!” at Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
Aside from Americans being hopeful for an end to the shutdown, Republicans in Congress have also become increasingly worried about their fate on Capitol Hill if it had lasted much longer. Tellingly, the “solution” came the same day that flights were canceled in and out of New York’s LaGuardia Airport. And in a bit of irony, today would also have been payday for the 800,000 federal workers who have been the victims of the shutdown, which has now gone on for 35 days — the longest government shutdown in American history.
With Trump’s approval, the stopgap measure will fund the government for three more weeks as Congressional leaders meet with one another to continue negotiations on border security.
Prior to the President’s announcement, Senator McConnell had been caught on his way out of his office after talks, telling reporters that Congress members were having “discussions about the way forward, and as soon as we have some news we’ll be happy to give it to you.”
This story is breaking and we will update as necessary.
Featured image via screen capture
