Cyclophosphamide and Veliparib in Treating Patients With Locally Advanced or Metastatic Breast Cancer

Inclusion Criteria: * Phase I: Patients must have histologically confirmed breast cancer (metastatic breast cancer \[MBC\]) that is human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2/neu) negative (as determined by local pathology or reference laboratory), and have disease that is metastatic (stage IV \[TxNxM1\]) or locally advanced and not amenable to potentially curative surgical resection (eg, clinical stage IIIB-C) * HER2/neu negative disease (performed on primary tumor and/or metastatic lesion using commercially available/approved assay in local institutional or reference laboratory), according to American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO)/College of American Pathologists (CAP) guidelines * National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) guidelines recommend for metastatic breast cancer "…biopsy documentation of first recurrence, if possible, and determination of hormone receptor status (estrogen receptor \[ER\] and progesterone receptor \[PR\]) and HER2 status…."; therefore, histologic and/or cytologic confirmation of metastatic disease is encouraged whenever feasible, but not required; in some circumstances, histologic confirmation may not be feasible (eg, bone metastases not amenable to biopsy and elevated cancer antigen \[CA\]27-29 tumor marker); for patients who have had histologic confirmation of metastatic disease, it is required that the biopsy confirm that the metastatic tumor is ER and/or PR positive, and HER2/neu negative; for patients in whom biopsy confirmation of metastatic disease is not feasible, it is required that the primary tumor be ER and/or PR-positive and HER2/neu negative * Measurable disease (Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors \[RECIST\] 1.1) or non-measurable disease, with measurement obtained within 4 weeks of registration * Phase I: Patients must have received at least one prior chemotherapy regimen for metastatic disease; patients with deleterious germ line mutations in breast cancer (BRCA)1 or BRCA2 are not required to have received prior chemotherapy for metastatic disease * Patients must have had progressive disease after at least one line of endocrine therapy for metastatic disease (includes relapse while receiving endocrine therapy); there should be at least 1 week interval between the last endocrine treatment for an aromatase inhibitor and at least 2 weeks for tamoxifen or fulvestrant * Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status 0, 1, or 2 (Karnofsky \>= 60%) * Leukocytes \>= 3,000/mcL * Absolute neutrophil count \>= 1,500/mcL * Platelets \>= 100,000/mcL * Hemoglobin \>= 9 g/dl (per manufacturer recommendation) * Total bilirubin within normal institutional limits (unless isolated indirect hyperbilirubinemia due to Gilbert's disease) * Aspartate aminotransferase (AST) (serum glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase \[SGOT\])/alanine aminotransferase (ALT) (serum glutamate pyruvate transaminase \[SGPT\]) =\< 2.5 × institutional upper limit of normal * Creatinine within normal institutional limits OR creatinine clearance \>= 60 mL/min/1.73 m\^2 for patients with creatinine levels above institutional normal * Patients with a history of brain metastases are eligible if they have been treated with radiation and have stable brain metastases at least 3 months after radiation and must also be off steroids * Patients must be able to swallow whole capsules and tolerate oral medications * Women of child-bearing potential and men must agree to use adequate contraception (hormonal or barrier method of birth control; abstinence) prior to study entry and for the duration of study participation; being not of childbearing potential is defined as: (1) prior hysterectomy, or (2) no menstrual period for at least 24 months; should a woman become pregnant or suspect she is pregnant while participating in this study, she should inform her treating physician immediately * Ability to understand and the willingness to sign a written informed consent document Exclusion Criteria: * Patients who have radiotherapy within 3 weeks prior to entering the study or those who have not recovered from adverse events due to systemic agents administered more than 3 weeks earlier * Patients may not be receiving any other investigational agents * Patients with known brain metastases with active symptoms or requiring anticonvulsive medications, or steroids should be excluded from this clinical trial * History of allergic reactions attributed to compounds of similar chemical or biologic composition to veliparib (ABT-888) or cyclophosphamide used in the study * Evidence of complete or partial bowel obstruction or other unable to take oral medications * Patients with malabsorption syndrome or other condition that would interfere with intestinal absorption * Patients unable to swallow whole capsules * Uncontrolled intercurrent illness including, but not limited to, ongoing or active infection, symptomatic congestive heart failure, unstable angina pectoris, cardiac arrhythmia, or psychiatric illness/social situations that would limit compliance with study requirements * Pregnant (positive pregnancy test) or lactating women will be excluded from the study; also, unwillingness to use effective means of contraception in subjects with child-bearing potential will be excluded from the study; women of child-bearing potential must use two forms of contraception (i.e., barrier contraception and one other method of contraception) at least 4 weeks prior to study entry, for the duration of study participation * Patients with active severe infection; known infection with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), hepatitis B virus, hepatitis C virus, or severe concurrent illness will be excluded from the study; HIV-positive patients on combination antiretroviral therapy are ineligible * Patients with a history of seizure disorder requiring antiepileptics who have had a seizure episode within the last 6 months * Prior treatment with veliparib (ABT-888) or other PARP inhibitors (e.g., olaparib)