Senators look to resolve government funding holdup ahead of midnight deadline

By Sarah Ferris, Morgan Rimmer, CNN

(CNN) — GOP leaders are still working to resolve complaints in their own party – including last-minute demands from South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham – on a bipartisan funding plan that would stave off another prolonged government shutdown.

And time is running out.

Republican senators are set to huddle midday Friday as Senate Majority Leader John Thune attempts to unite the party behind a White House-endorsed funding deal, all while a midnight deadline draws nearer.

A brief shutdown is virtually guaranteed: Any Senate-passed measure would still need approval from the House, which is not expected to return before Monday. But Thune, Senate Democrats and the White House are scrambling behind the scenes to act on a funding plan that avoids a dramatic weeks-long shutdown like last fall.

“We’re still working on a couple of things, but we’re getting closer,” Thune said on his way into a conference lunch to discuss funding.

No votes were expected before the midday lunch, leadership sources said. House Republicans will also meet by phone later Friday to discuss whether they can back the emerging deal, according to a source familiar with the plans.

One of those hurdles is Graham, a major Trump ally who is demanding a vote on his own measure to target so-called sanctuary cities, where local officials do not enforce certain federal immigration laws.

He is also threatening to oppose the package because it would void a controversial law that senators had forced into the bill that ended November’s historic shutdown. Under that law, senators can sue the Department of Justice for large sums of money if the department fails to notify the Senate when a lawmaker is under investigation and if their personal information is being subpoenaed. Graham himself has made clear he intended to use this provision.

The Republican senator is insisting on a commitment to holding the two votes – one on sanctuary cities as part of the renegotiated DHS funding bill in two weeks and the other on the so-called Arctic Frost provision at some point down the line – in exchange for lifting his hold.

“I’ve been told the White House doesn’t like this, and I told the White House last night, I don’t care if you like it or not,” Graham said defiantly from the Senate floor, aware that his opposition was delaying a President Donald Trump-backed deal.

Democrats, meanwhile, are pushing ahead on the funding deal struck Thursday, while publicly and privately fuming about Graham.

“We’re working to get it done,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said as he entered the US Capitol Friday when asked where talks stand.

The New York Democrat declined to offer more details about the holdup. But the leadership sources told CNN they are still resolving some issues on the GOP side. They include Graham’s demands to keep his ability to sue the Justice Department for major financial sums over the seizure of his phone records – as well as some issues on the Democratic side.

As lawmakers left Capitol Hill late Thursday with a vote not yet secured, Thune expressed hope that senators could act ahead of the midnight funding deadline.

“I hope we can get these issues resolved. Right now, we got snags on both sides, but tomorrow’s another day,” the Republican leader told reporters.

But it remains unclear when the Senate may vote Friday.

The current plan — backed by Senate Democrats and the White House — is a funding package comprised of five full-year bills, with a two-week stopgap for the Department of Homeland Security to buy time for further bipartisan negotiations to rein in US Immigration and Customs Enforcement. But Senate GOP leaders do not yet have an agreement among their own conference to bring that funding plan to the floor.

If the package does pass the Senate, it faces multiple obstacles in the House, where Speaker Mike Johnson and his team may need help from Democrats to pass the bill.

Schumer, asked if both parties can achieve a real compromise measure on federal immigration enforcement in just two weeks, said, “If the Republicans are cooperative, we can get it done.”

The minority leader earlier this week laid out his caucus’ demands for reshaping ICE tactics and protocol in any funding bill for DHS. They include: tightening the use of warrants, ending roving patrols, enforcing a code of conduct comparable to use-of-force policies for state and local law enforcement, and requiring ICE agents to remove their masks and wear body cameras.

Democrats, cognizant of the moment of heightened public scrutiny in the wake two high-profile killings of US citizens by federal agents in Minneapolis, saw those demands as attainable reforms.

Trump called on Congress Thursday to support the package, saying he hoped both parties would “give a very much needed Bipartisan ‘YES’ Vote.”

But government agencies are still likely to close their doors at the end of the day on Friday due to a lapse in government funding, as the narrowly divided House has not yet returned from its week-long recess to weigh the deal.

This story has been updated with additional developments.

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CNN’s Ted Barrett and Veronica Stracqualursi contributed to this report.