Senate shutdown deal stalls over Graham objection

The Senate’s race to avert a shutdown hit the skids late Thursday night as Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) placed a hold on the government funding package, forcing leaders to punt the vote.

Senators had been hoping to vote on the so-called minibus after leaders struck a deal earlier in the day and President Trump endorsed it. Under the agreement, the Senate was set to vote on a package of five full-year funding bills and a stopgap measure funding the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for two weeks.

But as lawmakers awaited word on the vote late Thursday, a fired-up Graham emerged from Senate Majority Leader John Thune’s (R-S.D.) office and declared, “We’re not voting tonight.”



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