Never Give Up, Never Surrender

Tell your Senators to oppose all legislation in the Senate until the government is re-opened. The new Democratic House passed funding bills on January 3 that would keep the Department of Homeland Security open through February, and the rest of the government open through September. Now, the Senate must act to pass these funding bills and end the Trump Shutdown—before they pretend it’s business as usual and move on to other things in the Senate. Call your Senators and tell them: no votes on other legislation until the government gets reopened.
Call Script for Democratic and Republican Senators

Caller: Hello! My name is ___ and I’m calling from (part of state). I’m calling to ask [Senator ___] to oppose any legislation in the Senate until the government is re-opened.
If the Senator disagrees

Staffer: Nice to talk to you. Unfortunately, [Senator] disagrees. Re-opening the government is a top priority for the Senator, but the Senate has other obligations too.

Caller: That’s unacceptable. There are 800,000 federal workers going without pay. National parks are filling up with trash. The Senate—including [Senator]—unanimously passed a clean budget that would keep the government open until February. [Senator] needs to force Mitch McConnell to put legislation re-opening the government on the floor by opposing all other legislation.

Staffer: Thanks, I’ll pass along your comments to [Senator].

Caller: Please do, and please take down my name and contact information so you can let me know what [Senator] decides to do. This vote is very important to me.
If the Senator agrees

Staffer: Thanks for calling. The Senator agrees with you. This isn’t business as usual—we have an obligation to get the government re-opened.

Caller: That’s great. Please pass along my thanks to the Senator. Have a great day.

BREAKING NEWS: A government shutdown will begin at midnight. The Senate has recessed until 12:01 a.m. without passing a spending bill.

The Senate planned to vote early Friday morning on a spending bill that would pour billions of dollars into the military and domestic programs while keeping the government operating.

The fate of the bill was uncertain in the House, where conservatives balked at adding billions to the nation’s debt and liberals demanded action on protecting young undocumented immigrants from deportation.

The House leadership had advised lawmakers to “prepare for late night or early morning votes.”

White House Office of Management and Budget spokesman John Czwartacki said late Thursday that “agencies are now being urged to review and prepare for a lapse” in spending after midnight.

This is the second shutdown in three weeks.

After much drama and a brief but technical government shutdown, Congress voted to fund the government at roughly 5:30 am Friday — keeping federal agencies open until the end of March. Lawmakers extended government funding through March 23 in addition to passing a massive deal to increase investments in domestic programs and the military by roughly $300 billion over the next two years, and they increased the debt ceiling for one year. The bill passed at 71-28 in the Senate and 240-186 in the House with bipartisan support.

• Senate Democrats on Friday night blocked passage of a monthlong stopgap spending bill, leaving less than two hours to find a path forward before much of the government was set to shut down.

• The roll call, which is still technically open, was 50 in favor and 48 against. Sixty votes are needed to end debate and move to a final vote. Five Democrats voted to end debate, while four Republicans voted with most of the Democrats to block the bill. See how the senators voted »

• After it became clear that the bill lacked the votes need to move forward, senators remained on the chamber’s floor, apparently discussing whether some compromise could be reached.

• Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, was trying to rally support for a shorter three-week spending bill which could muster the 60 votes for passage. But because the bill would need to clear the House, at least a short shutdown appeared unavoidable.