The government is close to reopening. The Senate voted Monday in favor of a temporary spending bill to fund the government until February 8th. The Daily Beast's White House Reporter Lachlan Markay explains rhetoric on Capitol Hill over this short-term resolution.
"Really all Democrats were able to get out of this deal was an agreement to vote on something that Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell insisted the Senate was already going to vote on," says Markay. "So from the Democratic perspective its not clear they got anything." McConnell promised the Democrats to vote on immigration reform as part of the spending resolution.
The House still needs to approve the measure the Senate passed in order for the government to reopen. With the funding extension, it's possible the government could face another shutdown in three weeks says Markay.
Water infrastructure across the country is vulnerable as climate change makes storms more unpredictable and destructive, flooding low-lying drinking water treatment plants and overwhelming coastal sewage systems.
Iran has transferred five Iranian-Americans from prison to house arrest in exchange for billions of dollars frozen in South Korea, U.S. and Iranian officials said Thursday, in a deal that comes after months of heightened tensions between the two countries.
