All eyes on divided Senate, Trump

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Demonstrators hold illuminated signs during a rally supporting the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (DACA), or the Dream Act, outside the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, Jan. 18, 2018.

Saturday is the first anniversary of Trump’s inauguration. He was scheduled to leave Washington on Friday for his private Mar-a-Lago club in Florida, where he was slated to celebrate his first year in office with a big-money fundraiser.

However, the White House told reporters Friday morning that the president would not leave until Congress passes a funding bill.

Democrats have cried foul over Republicans moving to pass a spending bill this week without also trying to pass immigration legislation. The minority party wants to approve a measure shielding hundreds of thousands of young undocumented immigrants from deportation, along with Republican-sought measures to boost border security and reform extended family migration and the visa “lottery” system.

After Senate Democrats joined Republicans in voting to proceed to the House-passed spending bill Thursday night, progress stalled as lawmakers were faced with the prospect of the plan failing. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer wanted to hold the doomed vote on Thursday night. That may have set the stage for fresh talks on funding the government on Friday, and Schumer argued that lawmakers had enough time to put an immigration deal in front of the president.

McConnell ensured that a vote on the plan would not take place until Friday, thereby putting more pressure on Democrats to pass it or risk a shutdown.

On the Senate floor Thursday night, McConnell said Democrats were trying to hold the country “hostage” over a “non-imminent problem.”

Schumer, in response, decried “complete disarray” on the Republican side. He argued for a bill that extended funding only for a few days, rather than a month, to give lawmakers more time to hash out a long-term plan.