The biggest loser... Orangutan rolls over and surrenders....

Trump announces deal to reopen government

The announcement came as the partial government shutdown stretched to 35 days, the longest in U.S. history.

By ANDREW RESTUCCIA and BURGESS EVERETT

President Donald Trump on Friday announced a deal to temporarily reopen the federal government, ending the longest shutdown in U.S. history without securing any money for his proposed border wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.

The agreement, which funds the government until Feb. 15 so negotiators can try to work out a larger immigration and border security compromise, marks a major reversal for the president. The president has insisted for weeks that he wouldn't reopen the government until lawmakers agreed to fork over more than $5 billion for the border wall.

Trump's Rose Garden announcement comes as the effects of the shutdown, which stretched into its 35th day on Friday, have started to dramatically ramp up. As the shutdown's fifth week came to a close, the East Coast was riven with airline delays and federal workers missed their second paycheck.

It's unclear whether divided lawmakers will be able to reach an agreement in the coming weeks that can satisfy the president. In his Friday speech, Trump threatened to declare a national emergency to build the wall if the negotiations fail.

"As everyone knows, I have a very powerful alternative, but I didn’t want to use it at this time," Trump said. "Hopefully it will be unnecessary.”

Trump said that he plans to make sure the 800,000 federal workers who have gone without a paycheck for more than a month will receive backpay "very quickly or as soon as possible."

The president called on the Senate to bring the proposal to the floor for a vote immediately. The House is also hoping to clear the bill by unanimous consent, sending the proposal to Trump by Friday evening. House Democratic aides were reaching out to their members shortly after Trump’s speech to make sure no one objects to moving the bill quickly and without a roll call vote.

The lengthy shutdown has infuriated many on Capitol Hill, who have been exasperated by an unpredictable and inconsistent president.

"He shut it down. Was it worth it? It’s the most stupid shutdown I’ve ever seen in my life," said Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.), adding, “Let’s hope there can be honest negotiations, not moving the goal posts."

The agreement was the product of negotiations between the Senate's top leaders, Republican Mitch McConnell and Democrat Chuck Schumer, who met on Thursday following the failure of two long-shot measures to reopen the government. During the meeting, McConnell pitched Schumer on an agreement to temporarily reopen the government alongside a "down payment" on the wall, according to a senior Senate Democratic aide.

But Schumer rejected the offer, insisting that Democrats wouldn't support wall funding. Schumer then countered with a proposal to first reopen the government, then move to negotiations on border security. McConnell said he'd take that proposal to the White House. The two Senate leaders kept in touch on the phone throughout the day on Friday.

The White House was under growing pressure from lawmakers of both parties to strike a deal Thursday's votes both failed. Just one Senate Democrat voted for Trump's proposed plan to trade temporary legal protection for some undocumented immigrants for funding for a southern border wall. Conversely, six Republicans backed a competing Democratic plan to reopen the government through Feb. 8

GOP Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah, one of the Republicans who voted in favor of the Democrat's measure, argued at a Republican party lunch in favor of the offering, according to a person familiar with the lunch. But senior White House officials, including Vice President Mike Pence, encouraged lawmakers to vote against the measure, calling for GOP unity.

Trump has repeatedly rebuffed the calls to reopen the government without money for the wall while lawmakers negotiate. During a meeting last week with a bipartisan group of House lawmakers, Trump worried that he might not be able to get funding for his border wall if he agreed to reopen the government while negotiations continue.

“If I open it up, it’s going to be hard to shut down again," Trump said, according to a person in the room.

But Trump's allies in Congress urged him to reconsider.

Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, who met with McConnell on Friday and spoke to Trump on Thursday, said earlier in the day that a series of airport delays that have rippled across the country are “signs of things to come” during the shutdown. He had been counseling the president to endorse the idea of briefly reopening the government to have a three-week immigration debate.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Friday postponed a scheduled press conference as House leaders waited to see what the president would announce. Senators have been told to stay in Washington.

The Senate opened at noon on Friday, but McConnell planned to speak later in the day after the president’s announcement.

On Friday morning, a wave of airport delays hit the East Coast, which some saw as a visible sign that pressure was mounting on the White House to end the shutdown.

"The President has been briefed and we are monitoring the ongoing delays at some airports. We are in regular contact with officials at the Department of Transportation and the FAA," White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said earlier Friday.