Appetite for destruction! Shutdown starts until 5am budget vote with weary lawmakers ordering in PIZZA to see them through the night
The federal government has shut down after Rand Paul blocked budget vote
Congressional leaders have agreed in principle to a two-year budget deal
But both parties are grappling with internal divisions that have held up a vote
GOP Senator Paul opposes the bill’s massive $400billion increase in spending
Paul blocked vote on the demand leaders open debate on amendments to the bill
White House has told agencies to prepare for at least a brief funding freeze
Comes weeks after a weekend shutdown on Democrat immigration concerns
KEITH GRIFFITH
DAILYMAIL.COM
9 February 2018
The federal government has shut down once again, after rogue Senate Republican Rand Paul blocked a speedy vote on a massive, bipartisan, budget-busting spending deal.
With a budget vote anticipated before dawn to end the shutdown, aides have brought pizza into Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s office to prepare for a long night.
Paul held up voting on the broad two-year spending measure Thursday night in hopes of reversing its nearly $400billion in spending increases. He asked Senate leaders to allow a vote on his amendment to maintain current spending ceilings, but was rebuffed.
‘I ran for office because I was very critical of President Obama’s trillion-dollar deficits,’ the Kentucky senator said.
‘Now we have Republicans hand in hand with Democrats offering us trillion-dollar deficits. I can’t in all honesty look the other way.’
Paul can hold up the budget vote until 1am, and his aides have said that he intends to do so.
That could delay passage of the bill through both houses until around 5am, meaning the shutdown will likely last mere hours.
The Trump administration, which favored approval of the measure, was preparing for a ‘lapse’ in appropriations, an official with the Office of Management and Budget said, commenting only on condition of anonymity.
That suggested the shutdown would be brief, although coming less than a month after the three-day interruption in January.
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