Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) announced that his chamber would not return to legislative business until Thursday, which means many federal agencies will remain closed until later next week at the earliest and hundreds of thousands of federal workers will be left in limbo about their status.
“Listen, anything can happen,” McConnell said. “We’re pulling for an agreement that can get 60 votes in the Senate and a majority in the House.”
The decision came after Trump had a lunch with conservative Republicans and dispatched Vice President Pence to the Capitol to make the latest offer to Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.). That meeting ended after 30 minutes with no resolution.
“Still talking,” Pence told reporters as he and acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney left Schumer’s office; the senator had said he would “remind” the vice president that Democrats would not sign off on funding for a border wall.
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