Partial government shutdown set after Senate vote stalls

The U.S. government is on track to begin at least a brief partial shutdown early Saturday morning following a scheduled Senate vote on a funding deal to keep federal agencies open.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R.S.C., R.S.D., told reporters late Thursday. “This is a bad deal,” he said as he headed to Senate Majority Leader John Thune’s office. Now MS.

Graham confirmed he has a so-called hold on the funding package, effectively preventing it from being considered quickly in the Senate.

Even if the Senate votes on that deal on Friday, at least a short-term shutdown is almost certain, as the House of Representatives is not scheduled to return to Washington until Monday. Both chambers will need to vote to approve the spending bills before the package goes to President Donald Trump for signature.

Without a funding agreement, federal operations will be partially shut down at 12:01 a.m. ET on Saturday.

On Thursday, Trump encouraged lawmakers in a post on Truth Social to support the deal, which would fund most of the federal government through the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30. Senate leaders planned to hold a vote on the agreement Thursday night, but it was canceled.

The deal would cut funding for the Department of Homeland Security and pass five more bills that would allocate money to government agencies.

DHS, which has been the target of harsh criticism from Democrats for its aggressive immigration enforcement actions in Minnesota, will be temporarily funded through a stopgap measure under the agreement, with long-term funding to be revisited later.

A Republican Senate aide told MS Now that Graham’s stance on the agreement stems from a provision passed by the House that removed legislative language that allowed senators to sue for up to $500,000 if phone records were obtained by then-special counsel Jack Smith during the Arctic Frost investigation.