Trump Says Lawmakers Are Close to Resolution on Govt Funding

Lawmakers in Congress are nearing a resolution aimed ending a partial government shutdown, President Donald Trump said on Monday.

Trump told reporters that he had spoken with House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune and they indicated that "they're pretty close to a resolution."

He said he had also spoken with Senate Democrat leader Chuck Schumer numerous times and did not believe Democrats wanted to see a shutdown.

A partial shutdown took effect at 12:01 a.m. ET after Congress failed to approve a deal to keep a wide swath of operations funded, but it is expected to be brief, with lawmakers from both parties working to reach a deal.

Johnson said on Sunday he believes he has the Republican votes to end the partial shutdown within days and that the chamber will debate Immigration and Customs Enforcement reforms for two weeks after that. Dems have been pressing for an array of enforcement reforms in the aftermath of two separate deaths involving protesters in Minnesota, and amid some criticisms that ICE agents are conducting immigration enforcement operations with a heavy hand.

Trump said last year's shutdown, which lasted a record 43 days, knocked the U.S. gross domestic product down by 1.5 percentage points,

The Senate easily passed a spending package on Friday but the House of Representatives is out of town.

The deal approved by the Senate would separate the Department of Homeland Security from the broader spending package. This would allow lawmakers to approve funding for agencies such as the Pentagon and the Department of Labor while new restrictions are considered on federal immigration agents.

The partial shutdown has paused discretionary spending for multiple Cabinet departments and independent agencies, according to reporting by the Associated Press.

Agencies affected include the Departments of State, Treasury, Transportation, Health and Human Services, Education, Housing and Urban Development, Labor, and parts of Homeland Security, where non-essential employees are furloughed and routine services suspended, AP said.

At the Department of Transportation, air traffic controllers and TSA screeners are continuing to work without pay while thousands of other employees are furloughed, according to the Transportation Department’s shutdown contingency plans, cited by PBS NewsHour.

The State Department has furloughed thousands of domestic employees, though embassies, passport offices, and visa processing remain open at reduced capacity, according to the State Department’s guidance summarized by AP.

The Internal Revenue Service is remaining partially operational using prior-year funding, but taxpayer services and enforcement activity could slow if the shutdown drags on, according to the Treasury Department.

Mandatory programs such as Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, SNAP, and WIC continue uninterrupted because they are funded outside the annual appropriations process, while the U.S. Postal Service is unaffected because it is self-funded, according to PBS NewsHour.

Newsmax  contributed to this report.