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Last updated on Thursday, January 18, 2018
(WASHINGTON) -The government will run out of money at midnight on Friday if Congress does not approve a budget or a temporary spending bill.
Republican congressional leaders have yet to formally submit any type of spending bill and are reportedly scheduled to meet behind closed doors to come up with a plan.
Many Democrats have said they will not vote for a spending bill that does include protection for the more than 800,000 recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.
The program expires on March 5.
Republican congressional leaders have said DACA should be kept separate from government funding.
The DACA debate comes less than a week after an Oval Office meeting in which President Donald Trump and a bipartisan group of lawmakers met to negotiate renewal of Temporary Protection Status (TPS) for Haitians, El Salvadorans and other immigrants as part of a broader immigration reform package. During the meeting, Trump reportedly said: "Why are we having all these people from s***hole countries come here?"
The president also reportedly said: "Why do we need more Haitians? ... Take them out."
Trump has repeatedly denied making the comments.
GOP Senators Tom Cotton (Ark.) and David Perdue (Ga.), both of whom attended the meeting, have said they did not hear the president make the remarks. Senator Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), who was also present, said he did hear Trump make the remarks.
Durbin on Tuesday told reporters that he and a group of bipartisan senators, known as the "gang of six," will introduce DACA legislation on Wednesday that would provide a path to citizenship for many of the program's recipients, allocate funds for enhanced border security, as well as reform the visa lottery program.
Trump has made comments suggesting he opposes the legislation.
Controversy over the president's reported remarks has dominated much of the national news cycle over the past five days and has left many lawmakers wondering whether a DACA agreement can be reached.
Another point of contention in the debate over government funding pertains to spending caps.
Democrats argue that any increase in defense spending be complemented with an increase in domestic spending.
Republican congressional leaders have dismissed the request as impractical.
The debate over spending caps is unlikely to be resolved by Friday and will most likely result in Republican congressional leaders proposing a short-term spending bill rather than a comprehensive budget package.
But many Republicans have said they will not vote for another continuing resolution (CR) because of the burden it presents for the Pentagon.
A spending bill cannot pass without the support of 218 House members and 60 senators.*
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