(CNN) — Congress passed a short-term funding extension Thursday, averting a partial government shutdown at the end of the week after lawmakers raced the clock ahead of a key Friday deadline.

The bill will now be sent to President Joe Biden to be signed into law. The Senate voted first to pass the measure by a tally of 77 to 18. The House passed the bill later in the day, 314 to 108.

But major challenges still lay ahead. Lawmakers must now attempt to pass a series of full-year spending bills before new March deadlines – a painstaking process with a wide array of potential landmines as the two parties fight for competing policy priorities.

In a rare event, lawmakers had been confronting not one but two government shutdown deadlines early this year – on January 19 and February 2.

The short-term funding extension sets up two new funding deadlines on March 1 and March 8. The stopgap measure will provide more time for full-year appropriations bills to be negotiated and passed.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, who presides over an extremely narrow majority, has faced intense pushback from his right flank amid the government spending fight.

Johnson has been criticized by conservatives over a topline spending deal he struck with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, which would set spending at close to $1.66 trillion overall. Conservatives were also quick to criticize the proposal for a short-term funding extension after it was announced.

“This is what surrender looks like,” the far-right House Freedom Caucus posted on X.

Johnson has defended the topline agreement and said in a statement Sunday that the short-term spending bill “is required to complete what House Republicans are working hard to achieve: an end to governance by omnibus, meaningful policy wins, and better stewardship of American tax dollars.”

In addition to the effort to avert a shutdown, a group of Senate negotiators have been working to try to strike a deal on border security that could unlock passage of aid to Ukraine and Israel.

Top congressional leaders emerged from a Wednesday meeting with Biden at the White House hopeful that a deal on a national security supplemental aid package can be reached.

If a deal is reached in the Senate, however, its fate in the House will be uncertain. A number of House Republicans have warned that they don’t believe a Senate compromise on border security would be adequate to address the issues at the border and would be ready to reject such a measure.

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(CNN) — The Senate voted Tuesday to pass a GOP-led resolution to block a DC policing bill aimed at accountability and reform – a resolution the White House has threatened to veto.

The Republican-controlled House passed the resolution in April, but it is not expected to become law. The vote amounted to a bipartisan rebuke of the DC bill after a number of Democrats crossed the aisle to vote with Republicans.

It vote served as an opportunity for Republicans to put vulnerable Democrats on the spot on a contentious political issue. The resolution only required a simple majority vote to pass in the Senate.

The DC Council bill that the resolution aims to block includes provisions related to improving police accountability and transparency, officer discipline, use-of-force reforms and improving access to body camera recordings.

Republicans have argued the DC policing bill would weaken the power of law enforcement officers to effectively respond to crime and have labeled it an “anti-police law.”

Democrats have defended reforms outlined in the legislation and have long contended that Congress should not interfere in the affairs of the Washington, DC, government. But there are divides within the Democratic Party over the issues of crime and policing, with some Democrats wary of being criticized by Republicans as “weak on crime.”

The resolution passed the Senate with a vote of 56 to 43. A significant number of Democrats crossed party lines to block the bill. Democrats who supported the GOP-resolution were Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada, Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire, Jacky Rosen of Nevada, Jon Tester of Montana, Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, and independents Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona and Angus King of Maine.

Four of those senators are up for reelection in 2024 – Manchin, Tester, Sinema and King.

“Congress must exert our constitutional authority to keep our nation’s capital safe,” Ohio Republican JD Vance said in a statement ahead of the vote. “For the good of every American who lives in or visits this town, I urge my colleagues to support my disapproval motion.”

While Congress has the power to overturn DC legislation, the DC attorney general has issued a legal opinion saying that Tuesday’s Senate vote can’t block the policing bill and that it has already become law.

In a statement on the legal opinion, DC Attorney General Brian Schwalb said, “The effort by Senate Republicans to advance a disapproval resolution now, after the 60-day review period has expired, has no legal consequence for the validity of the law, and is nothing more than empty political grandstanding.” The policing measure is “already law in the District of Columbia,” the statement said.

The White House has said President Joe Biden will veto the bill.

In a statement last month, the White House said that while the president does not support every provision of the policing bill, “he will not support congressional Republicans’ efforts to overturn commonsense police reforms such as: banning chokeholds; limiting use of force and deadly force; improving access to body-worn camera recordings; and requiring officer training on de-escalation and use of force.”

The vote on the GOP resolution taking aim at the DC policing bill took place after a similar measure sparked tensions among Democrats.

In March, Biden announced that he would not veto a different resolution to rescind a DC crime law. Congressional Democrats argued that the White House had not made its position clear before the House voted, creating confusion and frustration as a result.

That resolution went on to pass the Senate and Biden later signed it into law. This time around, the administration issued a veto threat before the House held its vote on the resolution targeting the policing bill.

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A crucial Senate vote on a bill to create an independent inquiry to investigate the deadly January 6 Capitol Hill riot failed Friday, falling short of the 10 Republican votes needed to advance and illustrating GOP efforts to move on from the insurrection that left five people dead and injured 140 police officers.

The vote was 54 to 35, showing the bill had a bipartisan majority of support with six Republicans voting with Democrats. However, the bill needed 60 votes to advance. The six GOP senators who backed the bill were: Mitt Romney of Utah, Susan Collins of Maine, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Rob Portman of Ohio, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Ben Sasse of Nebraska. Nine Republican senators and two Democrats didn’t vote.

The Republican opposition highlights the hold former President Donald Trump still has on most of his party, and underscores the deep partisan divide surrounding the fallout of the attack on the US Capitol, a point Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer made following the vote.

The New York Democrat said the Republican minority “just mounted a partisan filibuster against an independent commission to report on January 6.”

“This vote has made it official: Donald Trump’s ‘Big Lie’ has now fully enveloped the Republican Party,” Schumer added.

The tally of Republican supporters was one fewer than the seven GOP senators who voted to convict Trump at his second impeachment trial earlier this year. Republican Sens. Richard Burr of North Carolina and Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania did not vote. Burr had said ahead of Friday that he opposed the bill. Portman did not vote to convict Trump in February.

The key vote had been expected as early as Thursday, but due to the order of Senate procedure that vote had to wait until the previous legislation was cleared. Republican senators have delayed overnight passage of a massive bill designed to increase American competitiveness with China, and that means the key procedural vote on a bill to create the January 6 commission has to wait. That impasse was solved Friday morning when senators agreed to bring the vote back up after a one-week recess for the Memorial Day holiday.

Bill’s supporters sought to pressure GOP

Supporters of the January 6 commission — including the mother of a Capitol Police officer who died the day after the riot — pleaded with GOP senators throughout the week in order to convince at least 10 Republicans to back the plan.

Murkowski, took aim at her GOP colleagues Thursday night for moving to block the measure — and was critical of the rationale by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell that such a commission could prove politically problematic for the GOP ahead of the 2022 midterms.

“To be making a decision for the short-term political gain at the expense of understanding and acknowledging what was in front of us, on January 6, I think we need to look at that critically,” Murkowski said. “Is that really what this is about is everything is just one election cycle after another? Or are we going to acknowledge that as a country that is based on these principles of democracy that we hold so dear?”

The mother of fallen US Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick met with more than a dozen Republican senators — including Murkowski — urging them to vote to establish the commission. But even after those meetings, which two sources familiar said were cordial, most of the senators told her they wouldn’t be changing their minds.

Most GOP senators made it clear to Gladys Sicknick, her son’s girlfriend Sandra Garza, Capitol Hill Police Officer Harry Dunn and DC Metropolitan Police Officer Michael Fanone that they don’t want a commission to investigate what happened that day.

Sicknick told reporters that she had hoped her meetings would sway Republicans. “Usually I’m staying in the background, and I just couldn’t stay quiet anymore,” she told reporters Thursday.

The meetings highlighted the emotional toll that the riot has taken on the Capitol Hill community. The meetings, according to a source familiar with them, were “very hard” for Sicknick, who — along with Garza — wore a necklace with some of her son’s ashes in them.

In another reminder of the riot hanging over Washington: Capitol Police Officer Eugene Goodman, who became a national hero for his actions defending the Senate during the siege of the Capitol — was seen guarding the Senate on Thursday evening as part of his assignment protecting lawmakers when the chamber is in session.

What’s in the bill?

The commission would have attempted to find bipartisan consensus. According to the bill, the Democratic and Republican leaders of the House and Senate evenly split the selection of its 10 members. A subpoena can only be issued to compel witness testimony if it has the support of the majority of members, or if the commission’s chairperson, chosen by Democrats, and the vice-chairperson, chosen by Republicans, come to an agreement.

The commission would have been also required to submit to the President and Congress a final report by the end of 2021 and dissolve 60 days thereafter — about nine months before the 2022 elections.

The House passed the bill 252-175 last week, with 35 Republicans joining Democrats.

Senate in overnight over separate bill

At least eight Republicans requested time to speak on the floor overnight — for up to an hour each — to voice their objections to the legislative package aimed at China, known as “the US Innovation and Competition Act,” and those GOP senators slammed what they said is a rushed process to make last-minute changes they have yet to review.

Three senators spoke late Thursday night and early Friday morning — Sens. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, John Kennedy of Louisiana, and Rick Scott of Florida — before the Senate adjourned, meaning there are at least five senators who will likely speak when the Senate resumes.

According to Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, who is the GOP Whip, Republicans would likely use five to six hours of their allotted time to speak on the floor. That could be followed by additional debate as well as a series of procedural votes ahead of final passage of the legislative package, pushing the vote on the 1/6 commission farther into the day Friday or possibly to the weekend. This could change or move more quickly if senators give back their allotted time or forgo some of the steps they have been asked to take, which could speed up or slow down the process depending on what they decide to do.

The bill aimed at China and US competitive would invest over $200 billion in American technology, science and research and had broad bipartisan support. Its struggles to advance highlight the difficulty Democrats will have to advance any legislation through the narrowly divided Senate, as several major issues are in negotiations among lawmakers.

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The Senate passed President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion Covid relief plan on Saturday, after an all-night “vote-a-rama” and a 12-hour struggle to get one Democrat to support the party’s plan on a critical issue.

The vote was 50 to 49 on a party-line vote. The legislation is now expected to go back to the House for a final vote before Biden signs it into law.

Democrats have faced fierce pressure to stay united to pass the administration’s top legislative priority before March 14, when jobless benefits are set to expire for millions of Americans. But West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin’s unexpected opposition on Friday to a Democratic deal boosting unemployment benefits ground the Senate to a halt, prompting a furious lobbying effort between the two parties.

Democrats kept a Senate roll call vote open for 11 hours and 50 minutes, the longest in recent history, as Manchin signaled he would accept the Republicans’ less generous proposal.

The dispute was a sign of the centrist Democrat’s power in the 50-50 Senate, where Democrats control the narrowest possible majority, and an example of how a single senator can derail the President’s agenda.

But after a long negotiation, and with a flurry of other amendments to consider, Manchin finally agreed to extend $300 weekly unemployment benefits through September 6, about a month earlier than what Democrats had envisioned. The West Virginia Democrat also limited a provision to make the first $10,200 in benefits nontaxable apply only to households making less than $150,000.

“We have reached a compromise that enables the economy to rebound quickly while also protecting those receiving unemployment benefits from being hit with unexpected tax bills next year,” said Manchin in a statement.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Friday evening that Biden “supports the compromise agreement, and is grateful to all the Senators who worked so hard to reach this outcome.”

The nearly $2 trillion package includes up to $1,400 stimulus checks to many Americans, and billions of dollars for states and municipalities, schools, small businesses and vaccine distribution.

It also extends a 15% increase in food stamp benefits from June to September, helps low-income households cover rent, makes federal premium subsidies for Affordable Care Act policies more generous and gives $8.5 billion for struggling rural hospitals and health care providers.

The Senate passed the bill after a vote-a-rama, a Senate tradition that the minority party uses to put members of the majority on the record on controversial issues in an effort to make changes to a bill that they oppose.

Senate Republicans introduced a number of amendments overnight that were narrowly defeated by the Democratic majority. Sen. Susan Collins of Maine pushed to replace Biden’s bill with a $650 billion version. Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida wanted to tie school funding to reopening requirements. Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina advocated for greater transparency for state nursing home investigations following the scandal in New York. And Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah proposed cutting billions of dollars from the bill to states that had better-than-expected revenues despite the pandemic, noting that California actually ran a big surplus last year.

But the vast majority of the GOP amendments failed, along with one by Montana Democratic Sen. Jon Tester to require Biden to approve the Keystone XL pipeline, which the President blocked in January by executive order.

Only a few amendments were adopted, including Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden’s compromise with Manchin on unemployment benefits, New Hampshire Sen. Maggie Hassan’s measure incentivizing schools to reopen in-person learning and Kansas Sen. Jerry Moran’s effort to strike a bipartisan deal protecting veterans’ educational benefits for legitimate institutions.

The first, extraordinarily long amendment vote — on a measure to raise the minimum wage to $15 a hour, introduced by Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders — was an early test of Democratic party unity.

Eight senators in the Democratic conference — Manchin, Tester, Hassan, Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, Angus King of Maine, Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire and Chris Coons and Tom Carper of Delaware — opposed the minimum wage amendment, along with every Republican senator.

Democrats then rejected a Republican motion to adjourn late Friday, banking that Republicans will grow weary and won’t offer as many amendments.

Early Saturday, the Senate adopted Ohio Republican Sen. Rob Portman’s plan to extend weekly jobless benefits at $300 through July 18. Manchin also voted for the GOP proposal, but the Democrats’ alternative plan, which was adopted early Saturday morning, will superseded the Portman amendment.

The Senate’s effort to pass the $1.9 trillion legislation kicked into high gear Thursday when Democratic senators and Vice President Kamala Harris voted to open debate. Republicans then forced the 628-page bill to be read aloud.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, criticized Republican tactics to slow down the process and on Friday thanked the Senate floor staff for the nearly 11 hours of reading the bill, calling them “the unsung heroes of this place.”

The Democratic-controlled House passed the legislation at the end of last month, along with an increase in the minimum wage to $15 a hour. But the Senate parliamentarian ruled that the wage hike could not be included in the Senate’s version of the bill under reconciliation. That change and others, including the alterations to jobless benefits, will force the House to vote again on the legislation, which is expected to happen next week.

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Neera Tanden’s imperiled nomination to be President Joe Biden’s budget director faces a major test Wednesday to see if she has enough support to win Senate confirmation amid bipartisan opposition.

Two Senate committees are expected to vote on whether to advance her nomination to the floor as Tanden faces resistance from Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin, a centrist from West Virginia, and a wide array of Republicans, who have said they will not back her because of her past partisan criticisms aimed at lawmakers in sharp attacks at odds with Biden’s pledges of civility and unity.

If Tanden’s nomination stalls out, it would be the first defeat of a high-profile Biden pick subject to Senate approval and would underscore the narrow margin of error Democrats must contend with in a Senate with a 50-50 partisan split.

The embattled nominee stands a chance of winning confirmation if she wins the support of moderate Democratic Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona and Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, but it is far from clear that will happen.

Sinema sits on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, one of the two committees slated to take up the nomination on Wednesday, and has so far refused to say how she will vote.

Asked if he believes all Democrats on his panel will support the nominee, Sen. Gary Peters, the Michigan Democrat who chairs the Homeland Security committee, told CNN on Tuesday, “I haven’t talked to all of them but I believe we will.”

Murkowski has indicated she won’t make a decision until after the committee vote. “I’ve got time,” she said when asked when she would make her position known.

The Senate Budget Committee, chaired by Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, is also expected to vote on the nomination on Wednesday. The Vermont senator — who has clashed with Tanden in the past — would not say Tuesday if he planned to support her for the position.

Tanden apologized and expressed regret over her past tweets during Senate confirmation hearings earlier this month.

In a statement announcing his opposition to the nomination, Manchin said that Tanden’s comments on Twitter about Sanders and Republican colleagues, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, had led him to doubt she was the right fit.

“I have carefully reviewed Neera Tanden’s public statements and tweets that were personally directed towards my colleagues on both sides of the aisle from Senator Sanders to Senator McConnell and others. I believe her overtly partisan statements will have a toxic and detrimental impact on the important working relationship between members of Congress and the next director of the Office of Management and Budget,” Manchin said in a statement. “For this reason, I cannot support her nomination.”

Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, who had been viewed as a potential swing vote, similarly expressed opposition over Tanden’s rhetoric.

In a statement, Collins cited Tanden’s “past actions” and said the OMB nominee does not have the “experience nor the temperament” to lead the office.

“Congress has to be able to trust the OMB director to make countless decisions in an impartial manner, carrying out the letter of the law and congressional intent,” Collins said. “Neera Tanden has neither the experience nor the temperament to lead this critical agency. Her past actions have demonstrated exactly the kind of animosity that President Biden has pledged to transcend.”

Collins also said that Tanden’s deletion of tweets before her confirmation was announced “raises concerns about her commitment to transparency.”

GOP Sen. John Cornyn of Texas on Tuesday called on Biden to withdraw the nomination given the stiff resistance she faces.

“My friendly advice to President Biden is to withdraw Neera Tanden’s nomination and select someone who at the very least has not … openly bashed people on both sides of the aisle that she happens to disagree with,” he said.

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Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell announced Monday that he will allow the 50-50 Senate to officially organize so Democrats can take control of key committees in the chamber after a weeklong battle with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer over the rights of the minority to stall legislation.

The breakthrough came as GOP leaders were eagerly looking for a way out of a potential crisis that would have stymied the Senate committee process indefinitely, after McConnell pointed to recent comments made by two Democratic senators about their long-standing opposition to gutting the filibuster as sufficient to ease his concerns.

Schumer for days had rejected the GOP leader’s demands, saying Monday afternoon: “We are not letting McConnell dictate how the Senate operates.”

On Monday evening, McConnell relented after two moderate Democratic senators — who have long opposed gutting the filibuster — reiterated their views, allowing him to argue that they were sufficient to resolve his concerns since Democrats would lack the votes to change the rules.

“With these assurances, I look forward to moving ahead with a power-sharing agreement modeled on that precedent,” the Kentucky Republican said.

Yet McConnell didn’t receive any written assurances from Democrats that they would never touch the filibuster, and Schumer’s office argued that the GOP leader got little from the stalemate.

In response, Schumer spokesman Justin Goodman said in a statement: “We’re glad Senator McConnell threw in the towel and gave up on his ridiculous demand.”

McConnell’s announcement is significant because the stalemate has prevented Senate committees from officially organizing, meaning Republicans still control key committees since the chamber is operating under the rules of the last Congress when the GOP was in charge.

Schumer has demanded that the Senate agree to the 2001 rules during the last 50-50 Senate when the chamber’s committees had equal representation of both parties, and tie votes on legislation and nominations would go to the floor.

McConnell signaled Monday night he would agree to that as well.

It was clear GOP leaders were eager to find a way out of the logjam. After two moderate Democrats, Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, reaffirmed their opposition to changing the filibuster rules, Republicans suggested that could be enough to pave a way for a deal — even though the two Democrats have long held that view.

Sens. John Thune, the Republican whip, and Sen. John Cornyn, a member of GOP leadership, each told CNN that they believed those comments could be enough to avoid the logjam.

Cornyn called them “promising commitments.”

“I know the pressure that Schumer is under by the crazies on his side,” Cornyn said. “I’m little more optimistic than I was Friday that it will be worked out.” The Texas Republican said that he also was concerned that if the fight over the power-sharing agreement drags out, Democrats may “lose their minds” and dismantle the filibuster to pass the resolution in order to let the chamber officially organize.

“That’s not a good development for anybody — not for the institution,” he said.

Thune, a South Dakota Republican, said an agreement had to happen “pretty soon” because “these committees are dysfunctional because they don’t have chairman, ratios and all that stuff.”

He added: “But if we could have a couple of Dems that would be willing to say something in a very public way and sort of sign a blood oath that they won’t, I think that would help a lot.”

This story and headline have been updated with additional developments Monday.

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Police are clearing supporters of President Donald Trump from the US Capitol after they breached one of the most iconic American buildings, engulfing the nation’s capital in chaos after Trump urged his supporters to fight against the ceremonial counting of the electoral votes that confirmed President-elect Joe Biden’s win.

Shortly after 1 p.m. ET hundreds of pro-Trump protesters pushed through barriers set up along the perimeter of the Capitol, where they tussled with officers in full riot gear, some calling the officers “traitors” for doing their jobs. About 90 minutes later, police said demonstrators got into the building and the doors to the House and Senate were being locked. Shortly after, the House floor was evacuated by police.

An armed standoff took place at the House front door as of 3 p.m. ET, and police officers had their guns drawn at someone who was trying to breach it. A Trump supporter was also pictured standing at the Senate dais earlier in the afternoon. A woman is in critical condition after being shot in the chest on the Capitol grounds, according to two sources familiar with the matter. The sources could not provide further details on the circumstances of the shooting. Multiple officers have been injured with at least one transported to the hospital, multiple sources tell CNN.

Smoke grenades were used on the Senate side of the Capitol, as police work to clear the building of rioters. Windows on the west side of the Senate have been broken, and hundreds of officers are amassing on the first floor of the building.

The Senate floor was cleared of rioters as of 3:30 p.m. ET, and an officer told CNN that they have successfully squeezed them away from the Senate wing of the building and towards the Rotunda, and they are removing them out of the East and West doors of the Capitol. It’s not clear if any of the individuals have been taken into custody.

The US Capitol Police worked to secure the second floor of the Capitol first, and were seen just before 5 p.m. pushing demonstrators off the steps on the east side of the building. Lines of officers could be seen gathering at the Capitol complex in full riot gear.

Vice President Mike Pence was also evacuated from Capitol, where he was to perform his role in the counting of electoral votes.

The stunning display of insurrection was the first time the US Capitol had been breached since the British attacked and burned the building in August of 1814, during the War of 1812, according to Samuel Holliday, director of scholarship and operations with the US Capitol Historical Society.

An afternoon of chaos

The protesters first breached exterior security barriers, and video footage showed protesters gathering and some clashing with police near the Capitol building. CNN’s team on the ground saw a number of protesters trying to move up the side of the Capitol building. Several loud flash bangs were heard as well.

Protesters could be seen pushing against metal fences and police using the fences to push protesters back, while other officers reached over the top to club people trying to cross their lines.

Flash bangs could be heard near the steps of the Capitol as smoke filled the air. In some instances officers could be seen deploying pepper spray. Tear gas was deployed, but it’s not clear whether by protesters or police, and people wiped tears from their eyes while coughing.

After the building was breached, the Capitol police officer in the House chamber told lawmakers that they may need to duck under their chairs and informed lawmakers that protesters were in the building’s Rotunda. Lots of House members were seen wearing gas masks as they move between Capitol buildings. Members were calling family to say they are OK.

There are no clear answers yet on when the joint session will continue, multiple sources familiar told CNN. Congressional leadership wants the situation to be brought under control first.

Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, a New York Democrat who is a member of leadership, told reporters: “The Capitol is being cleared. When it is safe, we will return to complete our constitutional responsibilities. This is the United States. We will not allow mob rule to undermine the rule of law.”

Congressional leaders were being evacuated from the Capitol complex just before 5 p.m. ET and were set to be taken to Fort McNair, a nearby Army base in Washington, according to a federal law enforcement official.

Trump has directed the National Guard to Washington along with “other federal protective services,” according to White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany. The entire DC National Guard has been activated by the Department of Defense, according to the Pentagon.

“The D.C. Guard has been mobilized to provide support to federal law enforcement in the District,” said Jonathan Hoffman, the chief Pentagon spokesman. “Acting Secretary Miller has been in contact with Congressional leadership, and Secretary McCarthy has been working with the D.C. government. The law enforcement response will be led by the Department of Justice.”

The official said DC National Guard was not anticipating to be used to protect federal facilities, and the Trump administration had decided earlier this week that would be the task of civilian law enforcement, the official said.

Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser just announced a citywide curfew from 6 p.m. ET on Wednesday until 6 a.m. ET Thursday.

The shocking scene was met with less police force than many of the Black Lives Matter protests that rolled across the country in the wake of George Floyd’s killing at the hands of Minneapolis police officers last year. While federal police attacked peaceful protesters in Lafayette Square outside the White House over the summer, clearing the way for Trump to take a photo in front of a nearby church at the time, protesters on Wednesday were able to overrun Capitol police and infiltrate the country’s legislative chambers.

Trump tells supporters to go home, eventually

Trump finally called on his supporters to “go home” hours after the riot started, but spent a large amount of time in the one-minute video lamenting and lying about his election loss.

In one stunning line, Trump told the mob to “go home,” but added, “We love you. You are very special.”

Trump struck a sympathetic tone to the rioters he himself unleashed saying, “I know your pain, I know you’re hurt. We had an election that was stolen from us. It was a landslide election and everyone knows it. Especially the other side. But you have to go home now. We have to have peace.”

Others inside the President’s orbit tweeted their calls for calm as the mob repeatedly attempted to take over the building.

Donald Trump Jr., the President’s son, said that his supporters who mobbed the Capitol were “wrong and not who we are.”

“Be peaceful and use your 1st Amendment rights, but don’t start acting like the other side. We have a country to save and this doesn’t help anyone,” he tweeted.

Multiple bombs detonated safely

Federal and local law enforcement responded to reports of possible pipe bombs in multiple locations in Washington, DC, according to a federal law enforcement official. It’s unclear if the devices are real or a hoax, but they’re being treated as real.

A pipe bomb was found at the Republican National Committee’s headquarters earlier Wednesday, an RNC official told CNN. The device was found on the ground outside, along the wall of the headquarters. It was safely detonated by the police, the RNC official said.

At least two suspected pipe bombs have been rendered safe by law enforcement, including the one at the building that houses RNC offices and one in the US Capitol complex, a federal law enforcement official told CNN. The official said these were real explosive devices and they were detonated safely.

The Democratic National Committee was also evacuated after a suspicious package was being investigated nearby, a Democratic source familiar with the matter told CNN. The party had preemptively closed the building ahead of the protests, the source said, but a few security and essential personnel were evacuated.

This is a breaking story and will be updated.

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Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell vowed on Friday that whomever President Donald Trump nominates to replace the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg will get a vote on the Senate floor, signaling a historic fight in Congress over one of the most polarizing issues in American politics.

“President Trump’s nominee will receive a vote on the floor of the United States Senate,” McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, said in a statement Friday evening that sets GOP lawmakers on a collision path with Democrats, though the exact timing of such a fight — in particular how much of it would happen ahead of or after Election Day — was not immediately clear.

Senate Majority Whip John Thune, the number two GOP senator, backed McConnell, saying in a statement of his own, “I believe Americans sent a Republican president and a Republican Senate to Washington to ensure we have an impartial judiciary that upholds the Constitution and the rule of law. We will fulfill our obligation to them. As Leader McConnell has said, President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee will receive a vote on the floor of the U.S. Senate.”

GOP aides are skeptical that there is enough time to confirm a nominee before November 3, given that Supreme Court nominees typically take two to three months to process, according to a review of recent confirmation proceedings.

But that process could be sped up if McConnell, who controls the majority of the chamber, has the votes to confirm a replacement, and there is enough time to confirm someone in a lame-duck session of Congress after the November elections.

That calculation is further complicated if Republicans lose control of the Senate and the White House after the election — and whether enough GOP senators would break ranks and oppose any nominee by a President who had just lost his election and a GOP Senate that just lost its majority.

Senate Republicans, who hold the majority in the upper chamber, only need 51 votes to confirm a new justice once one is formally nominated. Currently, there are 53 GOP senators — meaning they can only lose three Republicans. In the event of a 50-50 split, Vice President Mike Pence could cast a tie-breaking vote.

Already, Republican Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine have said that there is not enough time to confirm someone before November.

Collins told The New York Times earlier this month that she’d oppose seating a nominee in a lame-duck session if Joe Biden wins the White House.

It’s unclear if more Republicans would break ranks.

CNN has reached out to Collins, Murkowski and Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah — among others — to seek their position on the matter.

In a message to GOP senators on Friday, McConnell urged his colleagues not to lock themselves into a position that they may regret later and counseled them to be cautious about what they are telling the media about their views on how to process the nomination, according to a person who saw the note. He urged them to “keep your powder dry.”

McConnell did not indicate a timeframe for considering the nomination but made clear he believes there’s enough time to take up the nominee this year.

While GOP Senate sources believe action on a nominee will likely wait until a post-election, lame-duck session of Congress, it’s possible it could be moved up for this reason: The possibility of court fights over the election results and the need for nine justices on the court to resolve any disputes.

A GOP Senate source said that this topic will be under discussion with senators as they decide whether to fast-track a nominee before November.

In July, Republican leaders signaled they would confirm a nominee this year.

“We will,” said Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, the second-ranking Republican leader, when asked if the Senate would fill a vacancy, even during the lame-duck session after the presidential election. “That would be part of this year. We would move on it.”

But Senate Judiciary Chairman Lindsey Graham wasn’t sure if he would agree to that.

“I’d like to fill a vacancy. But we’d have to see. I don’t know how practical that would be,” Graham told CNN in July. “Let’s see what the market would bear.”

McConnell’s vow that a nominee would get a vote set up a clash with the top Democrat in the Senate, Chuck Schumer of New York, who said earlier Friday that a Supreme Court vacancy “should not be filled until we have a new president.”

“The American people should have a voice in the selection of their next Supreme Court Justice. Therefore, this vacancy should not be filled until we have a new president,” the top Senate Democrat tweeted in a reference to a statement made by McConnell in 2016 after the passing of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.

Ginsburg died on Friday due to complications of metastatic pancreas cancer, the court announced. She was 87.

Earlier this year, McConnell reiterated his position that the GOP-led Senate would confirm a nominee to any Supreme Court vacancy that occurred this election year, despite leaving a seat vacant in 2016 and preventing President Barack Obama’s nominee from consideration.

Graham expressed his condolences over Ginsburg’s passing Friday evening.

“It was with great sadness that I learned of the passing of Justice Ginsburg. Justice Ginsburg was a trailblazer who possessed tremendous passion for her causes. She served with honor and distinction as a member of the Supreme Court,” the Republican South Carolina senator tweeted.

He went on to say, “While I had many differences with her on legal philosophy, I appreciate her service to our nation. My thoughts and prayers are with her family and friends. May she Rest In Peace.”

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced Friday evening that flags over the US Capitol building are flying at half staff in honor of the late justice.

In a statement, Pelosi said, “We must honor Justice Ginsburg’s trailblazing career and safeguard her powerful legacy by ensuring that the next Associate Justice of the Supreme Court upholds her commitment to equality, opportunity and justice for all. ”

Ginsburg was appointed in 1993 by President Bill Clinton and in recent years served as the most senior member of the court’s liberal wing, consistently delivering progressive votes on the most divisive social issues of the day, including abortion rights, same-sex marriage, voting rights, immigration, health care and affirmative action.

One additional element that might impact the looming nomination fight is the Arizona special election.

The Arizona Republic is reporting that if Democratic Senate candidate Mark Kelly wins a November 3 special election against GOP Sen. Martha McSally, he could be sworn-in as soon as November 30, meaning the balance of power in the Senate would shift from the current 53 Republicans and 47 Democrats to 52 Republicans and 48 Democrats.

That difference could impact the ability of McConnell to confirm a replacement for Ginsburg given that some GOP senators have expressed reluctance to filling a Supreme Court vacancy during a presidential election year.

The newspaper makes clear, however, that getting Kelly sworn in then is not a done deal and may be contested, saying, “Two Republican and Democratic election attorneys agree that state law and Senate practice would make Kelly eligible to take over the seat once held by Sen. John McCain as soon as Nov. 30, when the state election results are expected to be canvassed.”

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A Republican policing reform measure collapsed in the Senate on Wednesday when Democrats lined up to block it after criticizing the legislation as an inadequate response to nationwide calls for action to address police misconduct and racial injustice.

The move by Democrats caps weeks of calls from both parties to move quickly on police reform amid protests and civil unrest across the country following high-profile episodes of police use of deadly force that sparked a national backlash. But efforts to find common ground have largely devolved into bitter, partisan finger-pointing, underscoring how a deep partisan divide may result in stalemate on the issue on Capitol Hill.

Senate Democrats denied Republicans the 60 votes needed on a procedural vote to begin debate on the bill, which was led by Tim Scott of South Carolina, the only Black Republican senator. The tally was 55-45. As a result, the vote failed, meaning that lawmakers will not be able to open debate, offer amendments, or move to a final vote on passage.

Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Doug Jones of Alabama, and independent Sen. Angus King of Maine, who caucuses with Democrats, crossed party lines to vote “yes” on the procedural vote.

House Democrats are planning to bring a Democratic-crafted policing proposal to a vote in their chamber on Thursday and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had said last week that she had hoped to bring the Democratic legislation to conference with the Senate GOP proposal to reconcile differences.

But the possibility of the two parties finding enough common ground to enact a reform measure now looks increasingly like a remote possibility.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was noncommittal on Wednesday about bringing police reform back if Democrats block the Republican policing bill.

“Well, we will let you know,” McConnell said ahead of the vote. “It can be done under a motion to reconsider at any point.”

McConnell changed his vote to “no” at the end of the vote, a procedural move that preserves his ability to call the measure back up for a re-vote later if he chooses.

The Senate majority leader said on the floor that he is “in strong support of the bill,” but “in order to have an opportunity to reconsider the vote without waiting for two days, I changed my vote and moved to reconsider, which means that it could come back at any time should progress be made.”

Sen. Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican and chairman of the Judiciary Committee, met with a bipartisan group of senators — Scott, Kamala Harris, Cory Booker, Dick Durbin and Marco Rubio — on Tuesday to try and talk about the differences between the two bills. Asked by CNN if that meeting had signaled that there is still room to negotiate, Graham said, “all I can say is, I don’t see a way forward.”

Two top Republican leaders — Sens. John Cornyn of Texas and Roy Blunt of Missouri — suggested on Tuesday that if Democrats filibuster the Scott policing reform bill, then it’s almost certainly dead for the year.

“There probably is no path forward in this Congress if they block debate tomorrow,” Blunt, a member of GOP leadership, told reporters on Tuesday.

Cornyn said he doesn’t think there will be bipartisan talks if the bill goes down on Wednesday.

“I mean why would we want to do this behind closed doors? Why can’t we do this on the floor of the Senate where everybody in the world could see?” he asked.

Senate Democratic leaders made their opposition to the measure clear earlier in the week.

“The Republican bill, as is, will not get 60 votes. There’s overwhelming opposition to the bill in our caucus,” Senate Democratic Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said on Tuesday, adding, “The Republican majority has given the Senate a bad bill and proposed no credible way to sufficiently improve it.”

In a letter to McConnell on Tuesday, Schumer wrote that the GOP bill is “not salvageable,” and that Democrats were demanding a bipartisan negotiation ahead of a floor vote.

Scott, the lead sponsor of the legislation, said on Tuesday that he’s uncertain if there’s a path forward on police reform this year if Democrats block his bill.

“What happens if it fails? That’s a question I can’t really answer at this point,” he said.

An aide to Scott told CNN that on Tuesday at the Senate GOP lunch the senator played for his GOP colleagues hateful and racist voicemails his office has received in recent days. One Republican senator suggested he increase his own personal security.

Scott told The New York Times that the hateful and racist messages have become more intense in recent days.

“It’s interesting that we are on the right side of the police reform conversation, yet we’re on the wrong side according to the people, based on the way that we are characterized in the national press,” Scott told the Times.

Republicans were already going after Democrats ahead of Wednesday’s procedural vote, a sign of the partisan discord surrounding debate over the issue.

Cornyn said that Democratic opposition to beginning debate on a police reform bill is “completely insane” and said he is not interested in negotiating with “hostage takers.”

“It’s completely insane,” Cornyn told reporters moments after Senate Democrats said they would block the bill on a procedural vote Wednesday unless Republicans reached an agreement with them to allow votes on amendments to change the bill.

Cornyn argued Democrats should vote to let the debate begin and allow each side to offer amendments and that Democrats could block going to a final vote if they were not satisfied with the makeup of the bill at the point.

“It’s just mindless obstruction,” he said. “It’s the worst I’ve ever seen it.”

Democrats have also used strong language in criticizing the GOP proposal.

“Tim Scott’s bill is a half-assed bill that doesn’t do what we should be doing, which is doing honest police reform,” Sen. Mazie Hirono, a Hawaii Democrat, said earlier this week.

Connecticut Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal explained his party’s concerns with the GOP bill on Tuesday, saying, “The Republican bill is really just disastrously weak it betrays the demands for justice and change that I have seen, day after day in Connecticut,” he said.

While there is some overlap between the GOP and Democratic proposals, there are also key differences in the proposals that have created sticking points.

The GOP plan has a major emphasis on incentivizing states to take action, while the Democratic plan has a focus on setting national standards, such as mandates for federal uniformed officers to wear body cameras and banning chokeholds.

The Republican proposal does not include an outright ban on chokeholds but Scott argued earlier this week “we get very, very close to that place” by blocking federal grant funds to departments that don’t ban chokeholds themselves.

Another major sticking point between Democrats and Republicans is whether to overhaul qualified immunity for cops so it’s easier to sue them in civil court. The House Democratic bill overhauls the standard, while Scott’s Republican bill does not.

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President Donald Trump’s 200th judicial nominee was confirmed by the Republican-controlled Senate on Wednesday, marking a significant milestone in a presidency that has tilted the federal judiciary in a conservative direction for decades to come.

With the confirmation of Judge Cory Wilson to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, Trump has successfully appointed 53 appeals court judges, 143 district court judges, two US Court of International Trade judges and two Supreme Court justices — Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh — according to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s office.

Trump, with the help of a determined McConnell and Senate GOP majority, has significantly reshaped the judiciary during his first term, and the 200th appointment milestone illustrates how lasting his legacy will be, as federal judges serve lifetime appointments and many of Trump’s picks have been young judges who can serve for many years.

“Judicial confirmations may be President Trump’s most important legacy,” said CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin. “They will shape the nation’s laws on abortion, LGBT rights, voting rights and many other issues long after Trump leaves office.”

The 200 confirmations will also be a permanent part of McConnell’s legacy. The Kentucky Republican, who is up for re-election this year, played a key role in changing Senate rules to both speed up the process of confirming judicial nominees eliminating the 60-vote threshold for minority filibusters.

In a 52-48 vote on Wednesday, the Senate confirmed Wilson and filled the last currently available appeals court post. Democrats complained about Wilson’s views on voting rights and other issues, but could not stop his confirmation since a simple majority vote is all that’s required for approval.

McConnell gloated about the accomplishment before the vote, saying: “Once we confirm Judge Wilson today, this Senate will have confirmed 200 of President Trump’s nominees to lifetime appointments on the federal bench.”

“And following number 200, when we depart this chamber today, there will not be a single circuit-court vacancy anywhere in the nation for the first time in at least 40 years,” McConnell said.

Earlier this month, the Senate also voted to confirm Justin Walker, a young judge close to McConnell, to the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit, enraging Democrats who said he’s not qualified. The DC appeals court is considered a breeding ground for future Supreme Court justices, and was the court Kavanaugh served on before Trump appointed him to the Supreme Court.

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