Here's how Democrats want the government shutdown to end


The House and Senate each convened for fewer than four minutes on Thursday, and the most substantive thing either chamber did involved House Republicans ignoring an attempt by Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) to introduce legislation to reopen the full federal government. About a quarter of the government has been shuttered since Saturday amid an impasse over President Trump's demands for $5 billion toward his border wall. The 800,000 federal employees furloughed or working without pay are hunkering down for an extended, often financially fraught standoff.
Congressional Republicans have given up on reaching a solution before Democrats take over the House on Jan. 3. Democratic House leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is considering at least three options to get the money flowing quickly, and none of them provide more than $1.3 billion for border security and fence maintenance.
The first option funds all shuttered departments and agencies at current levels through Feb. 8, the second would fund those agencies at current levels through the end of the fiscal year, and the third option involves passing all the outstanding appropriations bills except for Homeland Security, instead financing the department charged with border security at current levels through a stopgap measure. Pelosi's team is also "weighing including multiple funding options in a package of rules for the new Congress," Politico reports, giving "Trump and Senate Republicans several options to choose from."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Senate Republicans say they will only bring up a bill that has 60 votes and Trump has publicly agreed to sign. Democrats don't consider Trump a reliable negotiating partner. They believe they have the political upper hand and hope that if they pass a spending bill, openly frustrated Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) "will feel pressure to act," Politico reports. "McConnell could also choose to bring whatever House Democrats pass up for a vote, allowing it to publicly fail as a way to force Mr. Trump and Democrats to the negotiating table," The New York Times adds.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
-
Some mainstream Democrats struggle with Zohran Mamdani's surprise win
TALKING POINT To embrace or not embrace? A party in transition grapples with a rising star ready to buck political norms and energize a new generation.
-
Canadian man dies in ICE custody
Speed Read A Canadian citizen with permanent US residency died at a federal detention center in Miami
-
GOP races to revise megabill after Senate rulings
Speed Read A Senate parliamentarian ruled that several changes to Medicaid included in Trump's "One Big Beautiful Bill" were not permissible
-
Supreme Court lets states ax Planned Parenthood funds
Speed Read The court ruled that Planned Parenthood cannot sue South Carolina over the state's effort to deny it funding
-
Trump plans Iran talks, insists nuke threat gone
Speed Read 'The war is done' and 'we destroyed the nuclear,' said President Trump
-
Trump embraces NATO after budget vow, charm offensive
Speed Read The president reversed course on his longstanding skepticism of the trans-Atlantic military alliance
-
Trump judge pick told DOJ to defy courts, lawyer says
Speed Read Emil Bove, a top Justice Department official nominated by Trump for a lifetime seat, stands accused of encouraging government lawyers to mislead the courts and defy judicial orders
-
Mamdani upsets Cuomo in NYC mayoral primary
Speed Read Democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani beat out Andrew Cuomo in New York City's Democratic mayoral primary