You don't need the president to reopen the government. The spending bill has to be approved by the president. He has 10 days to do so. But if he rejects it, con

You don't need the president to reopen the government. The spending bill has to be approved by the president. He has 10 days to do so. But if he rejects it, congress can override his decision with a 2/3 vote. So technically the processes are there for this to never happen. The problem is that the process relies on people not having malevolent intentions. But the senate majority leader, and other spineless Republicans afraid of angering Trump's base, are exactly that set of malevolent actors that aren't willing to put country over themselves.