Senate Sets Test Votes to End Government Shutdown as Pressure Mounts

WASHINGTON — The Senate is poised to hold test votes Thursday on two competing proposals to reopen the government nearly six weeks into the shutdown, and their expected failure has underscored the urgency of finding a bipartisan way out of the stalemate over President Trump’s demands for a border wall.

In back-to-back votes unfolding at 2:30 p.m. Thursday, senators will consider a proposal by Mr. Trump to pair $5.7 billion in funding for a border wall with temporary legal protections for some immigrants and measures to make it more difficult to claim asylum in the United States, and another measure backed by Democrats that omits the wall and reopens the government through Feb. 8.

Neither is expected to garner the 60 votes necessary to be adopted. In an indication that Republicans are growing increasingly concerned about the impact of the shutdown, a few of them have broken with Mr. Trump and said they will vote for both measures. In December, the Senate unanimously approved legislation virtually identical to the second bill, only to see the president reject it and the House cancel a planned vote on it.

“Shutdowns are extraordinarily unfair,” Senator Susan Collins, Republican of Maine, said through a spokeswoman. “I’ll vote yes and yes.”

Senator Cory Gardner, Republican of Colorado, also plans to support both measures, his spokesman told The Denver Post on Wednesday.

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