Trump and Senators Scramble to Avoid Midnight Government Shutdown

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WASHINGTON — President Trump and Senate leaders scrambled on Friday to avert a midnight shutdown of much of the government, with Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader, declaring that progress had been made in a private meeting with the president at the White House.

But with the clock ticking, no votes were even scheduled before federal funds are to run out at midnight.

“We had a long and detailed meeting,’’ Mr. Schumer told reporters at the Capitol after leaving the White House. “We discussed all of the major outstanding issues. We made some progress, but we still have a good number of disagreements. The discussions will continue.”

By Friday afternoon, it appeared that only a last-minute congressional deal could stop what would be a rare shutdown of a federal government under one-party control. The House cleared stopgap spending legislation on Thursday night that would keep the government funded through Feb. 16, but Senate Democrats were seeking concessions on their own priorities, including protecting young undocumented immigrants from deportation, and an increase domestic spending, disaster aid for Puerto Rico and bolstering the government’s response to the opioid epidemic.

“Our Democratic colleagues are engaged in a dangerous game of chicken,’’ Senator John Cornyn of Texas, the No. 2 Senate Republican, warned in a speech on the Senate floor.

Mr. Trump, who described his session with Mr. Schumer as an “excellent preliminary meeting’’ in a tweet Friday afternoon, did not appear able or willing to suggest his own solution.

Mr. Cornyn said Mr. Trump rejected a proposal by Mr. Schumer to fund the government through Tuesday to allow negotiations to continue.

“The president told him to go back and talk to Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell and work it out,” Mr. Cornyn said, referring to the House speaker and Senate majority leader.

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Senate Democrats still held out hope that Mr. Trump, scorched by the firestorm prompted by his vulgar, racially tinged comments on Africa last week, would be willing to make concessions.

“It’s time for us as Democrats and Republicans to sit down in a room together, think about this great nation and the frustration they have with our political system and those of us in political life,’’ Senator Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, the No. 2 Democrat in the Senate, said in a speech on the Senate floor.

He went on: “Nine out of ten, maybe even more would say to us, ‘For goodness sakes, will you stop your fighting, will you stop your bickering, will you stop your debating, would you get into a room and act like grown-ups and do something together for the good of this nation?”

Around the country, state and local officials were left scratching their heads at the dysfunction in Washington.

“We’re the United States of America,” lamented Gov. Matt Mead, the two-term Republican governor of Wyoming, in an interview Friday. “We should be able to figure out these problems without going to the cliff every so often whether it’s with Republicans or Democrats in office. There certainly has to be a better way.”

In the Capitol, it was unclear when or if a vote would even be held, as each party prepared to blame the other for a shutdown.

Democrats delivered speeches on the Senate floor in front of a huge placard that blared: “Trump Shutdown.” But at the White House, Mr. Trump’s budget director, Mick Mulvaney, said the Trump administration is preparing for “what we’re calling the ‘Schumer shutdown.’”

Tempers were flaring within the Republican Party as well. Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, a moderate Republican on immigration who has been trying to broker a deal with Democrats, laced into Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas on Friday, deriding him as “the Steve King of the Senate” in an interview with MSNBC, a reference to Iowa congressman who is perhaps the most virulent anti-immigrant voice in Congress.

Mr. Cotton, who has helped thwart Mr. Graham’s efforts, retorted with Mr. Graham’s failed 2016 presidential bid.

“The difference between Steve King and Lindsey Graham is that Steve King can actually win an election in Iowa,” Mr. Cotton told reporters.

Mr. Cotton went on to argue that it was Mr. Trump’s views on immigration that powered him to the Republican Party’s nominee, while Mr. Graham was relegated to the “kiddie table” at the primary debates.

Across the Capitol, House Republican leaders pressured Senate Democrats to capitulate and give their blessing to the stopgap measure.

“Make no mistake about it: Senate Democrats are the only ones standing in the way of a fully funded government and a reauthorized health insurance program for children,” Speaker Paul D. Ryan of Wisconsin said. “This is no time to play politics and force a shutdown. The House has done its job.”

House Republican leaders told their members late Friday morning to ‘‘remain flexible,’’ in case the Senate reached an agreement and sent the House a spending bill.

Mr. Trump canceled plans to travel to his Florida resort on Friday and will stay in Washington until a spending bill is passed, a White House official said Friday morning.

In an early-morning Twitter post on Friday, Mr. Trump put pressure on Democrats to keep the federal government open.

Still, with great uncertainty on Capitol Hill, the government began bracing for a shutdown. National parks will remain open even if the government shuts down, the Department of Interior announced Thursday in a move that could help assuage public anger at Republicans if Congress fails to agree to a budget. The Defense Department, however, warned that military personnel would not be paid until Congress makes funds available.

If Democrats vote the stopgap bill down, the move would hold undeniable risks. Ten Senate Democrats are running for re-election in states that Mr. Trump won in 2016, and many of those states — such as Indiana, Missouri, North Dakota and West Virginia — may hold little sympathy for one of the primary causes of the looming shutdown: protecting young undocumented immigrants known as Dreamers.

Five of those red state Democrats introduced legislation on Friday to withhold the pay of members of Congress during a shutdown. “If members of Congress can’t figure this out and keep the government open, then none of us should get paid,” said Senator Claire McCaskill, Democrat of Missouri.

The Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, warned that the Senate was “just hours away from an entirely avoidable government shutdown.”

“This vote should be a no-brainer,” Mr. McConnell said, “and it would be, except the Democratic leader has convinced his members to filibuster any funding bill that doesn’t include legislation they are demanding for people who came into the United States illegally.”

The stopgap bill, which passed the House by a vote of 230 to 197, would keep the government open for a month, provide funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program for six years and delay or suspend a handful of taxes imposed by the Affordable Care Act.

About dozen, or possibly more, Senate Democratic votes will be needed to approve the measure because some Republican senators are expected to vote no.

The standoff on immigration dates back to September, when Mr. Trump moved to end an Obama-era program called Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, which shields the young immigrants from deportation. Democrats have been eager to enshrine into law protections for those immigrants.

At the same time, congressional leaders from both parties have been trying to reach an agreement to raise strict limits on domestic and military spending, a deal that would pave the way for a long-term spending package. So far this fiscal year, they have relied on stopgap measures to keep the government funded.

By Friday evening, it was still far from clear how the political blame would be divvied up if the government does shut down on Saturday, the anniversary of Mr. Trump’s inauguration.

“At some point, Congress needs to do better than government-by-crisis, short-term fixes, and sidestepping difficult issues,’’ said Senator Chris Coons, Democrat of Delaware. “That time is now.”