White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, quoting a written statement from President Donald Trump, welcomes Senate Democrat's decisions to "come to their senses," over the government shutdown. (Jan. 22) AP


WASHINGTON – President Trump declared victory Monday in the great government shutdown debate of 2018, signing into law a bill ending a three-day partial closure of the federal government but without the immigration provisions that Democrats had demanded.

For Democrats, meanwhile, it's still a no-decision.

After the Senate reached a compromise to end the three-day shutdown, Trump issued a statement proclaiming that "I am pleased that Democrats in Congress have come to their senses."

He pledged to work on the immigration issue – but on his terms.

"Once the government is funded, my administration will work toward solving the problem of very unfair illegal immigration," Trump said in a statement read by his press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders. "We will make a long term deal on immigration if and only if it’s good for our country.” 

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If there's no agreement by Feb. 8, they warned, there could be a rerun of what Democrats called the "Trump shutdown," which took place as both parties positioned themselves for congressional elections in a little less than ten months.

"The Republican majority now has seventeen days to prevent the DREAMers from being deported," said Senate Democratic leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., speaking on the Senate floor.




The House later approved the shorter funding measure 266-150, sending the bill to Trump's desk.

Even before signing the spending bill, Trump turned his attention to immigration, meeting at the White House with a group of senators — all Republicans, and all viewed as relative hard-liners on the immigration. 

The government has been partially shut down since 12:01 a.m. Saturday, after senators blocked a bill that would have kept the government funded for the next month. The legislation came up with a vote of 50-49 – 10 votes short of overcoming a Democratic filibuster. 


Trump announced in September that he would end the program, saying Obama didn't have the legal authority to give the undocumented immigrants legal status. But he also gave Congress six months to enshrine the program into law. 

Democrats argued the president was backing away from his commitment to find a solution to help protect these 800,000 immigrants from deportation.


Trump himself as been largely silent throughout the shutdown crisis, except for an occasional tweet. But across the globe, Vice President Pence was quick to cast Democrats' efforts as a loss. 

"The Schumer shutdown failed," Pence said during a news conference in Israel, placing the blame squarely on the top Senate Democrat. "Now that the government is reopening, Congress can get back to work advancing the president’s agenda." 

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The Trump-Pence re-election campaign sent out fundraising emails crediting Trump voters with ending the shutdown: "Democrats in red states we won big league saw how ANGRY you were with their disgusting tactics and couldn't go on any longer."

Many Democrats, and even some Republicans, have complained for months that Trump’s position on DACA has been unpredictable and inconsistent. They said he pulled back support for a deal just hours before the shutdown deadline at midnight Friday.

As a result, senators ultimately decided to work out the details among themselves, rendering Trump irrelevant on shutdown weekend. But White House aides said Trump's low-profile approach ultimately won the day.

"Look, what the president did clearly worked. The vote just came in. It was 81-18," Sanders said Monday.

Now, Democrats are clearly looking to put Trump on the spot. Schumer took a jab at Trump, who hasn't been seen publicly since the shutdown started Saturday morning. Mocking Trump's claims of business acumen, Schumer said that "the great deal-making President sat on the sidelines."

White House officials said Trump spoke with Republican lawmakers by phone throughout the weekend. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Tex., told reporters that Trump met with him and a group of other GOP Senators on Monday at the White House to discuss immigration.

The weekend shutdown took place in the shadow of congressional elections slated for November, as well as a busy legislative calendar that could range from infrastructure to health care.

Throughout the impasse, Trump and the Democrats accused each other of playing strictly to their political base.

Over the weekend, the Trump presidential campaign put out an ad accusing the Democrats of being "complicit in every murder committed by illegal immigrants." In a separate tweet Monday, Trump said: "Democrats have shut down our government in the interests of their far left base. They don’t want to do it but are powerless!"

Democrats said Trump and the Republicans exhibited an anti-immigration mindset that will hurt them with minority and moderate voters in an emerging majority minority nation.

Whether this shutdown will affect this year's elections, or any other political dispute, is an open question.

Republican strategist Rich Galen said it's hard to assess how any event will affect the businessman-turned-president. "Trump's just different from everybody else we've ever had," he said. But history shows that shutdowns have short shelf lives as political issues, he said. 

Galen worked with then-House Speaker Newt Gingrich on shutdown showdowns with President Bill Clinton during the mid-1990s. The argument didn't seem to hurt either party in the long run; Clinton cruised to re-election in 1996 and the Republicans kept control of Congress that same year.

Also: This year's elections are a long way away.

"A lot of stuff is going to happen between now and November," Galen said.

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