For nearly three days since initiating a government shutdown Friday, Congress was still not being able to agree to a budget spending bill over the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals or DACA legislation. The Washington Post was one of the many media sources to first report on Monday that both parties had finally come to an agreement to reopen the government, under the condition that Republicans would hold a vote for DACA legislation before a March deadline by mid-February.

Bipartisan achievement over DACA?

According to the Post, Democrats finally submitted under great pressure to end the shutdown by siding with Republicans over immigration and made a compromise on spending.

The tradeoff was in fact, Democratic support for Republican legislation in return for the GOP's promise to begin immediate legislation on DACA. Part of the disagreement that led to last week's shutdown was that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell refused to consider any immigration bill that President Trump would not agree to, saying such legislation over DACA was pointless.

But on Monday, McConnell said on the Senate floor that he would allow conflicting and bipartisan plans on DACA. Both the House and the Senate joined together to pass a spending bill on Monday which passed by 81-18 in the Senate and 266-150 in the House. The final agreement included the reauthorization of the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) which expired last September funding it for another six-years and to finally rollback some Obamacare taxes which until recently, Democrats refused to agree to.

An air of compromise

Specifically, both sides agreed to an immediate three-week spending deal which on the surface, appear to have been instigated by McConnell and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer who both announced this deal on the Senate floor. But it was reported that in fact, 25 senators from both sides of the aisle had been negotiating a short-term spending agreement behind-the-scenes.

The Post detailed that Republican Sens. Jeff Flake (Ariz.), Lindsey Graham (SC.) and Susan Collins (Maine.) had been "shuttling" in huddles with McConnell and Schumer over the weekend and were in Collin's office where they used a talking stick in order to make sure lawmakers did not talk over each other during their negotiations.

The Post went further to say that the stick eventually became a baseball in order for them to pass it easier.

A report by the PBS Newshour hinted at an air of bipartisanship with Sens. Collins, Graham, Flake, Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.) and Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.). Coverage of the agreement also referred to the other lawmakers who refused to support the bill who said it was not good enough, often even chiding Democrats who relented to compromise with Republicans or that they would even trust Mitch McConnell, such as Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Kamala D. Harris (D-Calif.) to name some. Here is a report by the PBS Newshour over their agreement to end the government shutdown.
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