'Gremlins are running the show': Partial gov’t shutdown imminent as midnight deadline looms

After working with Democrats to pass a $1.2 trillion appropriations bill, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) managed to get six separate funding bills to the US Senate prior to the midnight partial government shutdown deadline.

However, Senate Republicans have stalled the process to a halt after loading down the 1,000-plus page bill with numerous amendments pertaining to various issues like immigration and the Southern border. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-Rhode Island) didn't hold back in a tweet blaming his Republican colleagues (whom he referred to as "gremlins") for the impending shutdown.

"Well, it looks like we’re headed for a shutdown at the hands of Senate Republican gremlins who (1) know that amendments can’t pass because there’s no House to send an amended bill back to (they adjourned) and (2) want amendments anyway, and (3) can’t decide amongst themselves what won’t-pass amendments they want," Whitehouse tweeted. "I sure hope I’m wrong. But the Republican Senate caucus is a rudderless ship right now, so the gremlins are running the show."

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According to the Hill, the bill currently held up in the Senate would fund the "departments of Defense [which makes up more than $800 billion of the funds appropriated], Homeland Security, Labor, Health and Human Services, and State as well as general government, financial services and foreign operations." President Joe Biden has already indicated he would sign the House bill, but if it fails to pass the Senate, those agencies would shut down by midnight EDT.

One of the key provisions Republicans want included in the legislation is the Laken Riley Act, which is named for a 22-year-old Georgia woman who was kidnapped and murdered while jogging. The alleged perpetrator is 26-year-old José Antonio Ibarra, a Venezuelan who illegally crossed the border in 2022.

That legislation would require the arrest of undocumented immigrants who have committed low-level crimes like larceny and shoplifting, and would additionally require they be detained by federal authorities before being deported. The second, more contentious part of the act would allow state attorneys general to sue the Department of Homeland Security over disputes concerning immigration policy (the Supreme Court maintains that the federal government — not states — has sole jurisdiction over issues concerning international borders).

Journalist Chad Pergram tweeted Friday night that there was still no agreement on the Laken Riley Act and other border-related amendments and that senators were killing time by watching the NCAA men's basketball tournament.

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Notably, Johnson's work across the aisle with Democrats (more of whom supported the appropriations bill than Republicans) may cost him his job, as Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Georgia) is planning to file a motion to vacate him as speaker after the House returns from recess. And his work to avoid a partial shutdown may have been for nothing.

In a recent segment on MSNBC's All In with Chris Hayes, NBC News reporter Sahil Kapur said a shutdown is likely given the looming 12 AM deadline.

"We might be stumbling into a government shutdown tonight," Kapur said.

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