SCHUMER WITHDRAWS OFFER TO FUND TRUMP’S BORDER WALL IN EXCHANGE FOR DACA DEAL
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
the White House through an aide on January 22, informing President Trump
that he was retracting the offer he made on January 19 to approve more
than $1.6 billion for construction of a wall along the southern border
with Mexico.
Schumer “took it off,” Senator Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), the assistant
Democratic leader said on January 23. “He called the White House
yesterday and said it’s over.”
The offer was made during negotiations to end a government shutdown
by approving a temporary funding measure through February 8. Senators
voted 81-18 on January 22 to pass the temporary funding measure in
exchange for assurances from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell
(R-Ky.) to work on a deal to grant legal status to roughly 700,000
youthful aliens protected under the Deferred Action for Childhood
Arrivals (DACA) program.
“The wall offer is off the table,” Schumer told reporters on January 23. “That was part of a package” that’s now defunct.
“It was the first thing the president and I talked about. The thought
was that we could come to an agreement that afternoon [of the 19th],
the president would announce his support, and the Senate and the House
would get it done and it would be on the president’s desk,” Schumer
continued. “He didn’t do that. So we’re going to have to start on a new
basis and so the wall offer is off the table.”
Later that day, Trump responded by tweeting: “Cryin’ Chuck
Schumer fully understands, especially after his humiliating defeat, that
if there is no Wall, there is no DACA. We must have safety and
security, together with a strong Military, for our great people!”
Trump also tweeted that day: “Nobody knows for sure that the
Republicans & Democrats will be able to reach a deal on DACA by
February 8, but everyone will be trying….with a big additional focus
put on Military Strength and Border Security. The Dems have just learned
that a Shutdown is not the answer!”
USA Today reported that the White House provided a different
account of the January 19 meeting, stating that Schumer offered
legislative approval for the wall, but not actual funding.
Hogan Gidley, a White House spokesman, said on January 23 that the
Schumer offer “never existed.” “You can’t rescind money you never really
offered in the first place,” Gidley said on Fox News.
Senator Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) disputed Schumer’s recollection of the
meeting wherein the border wall offer was discussed. “They claim that
some crazy deal was made,” Cotton said of Democrats. “And then when we
say no deal was made, they accuse Republicans and the president of
reneging.”
After the talks between the president and the Senate minority leader
broke down, the Senate rejected a short-term spending bill, creating a
partial government shutdown. Senate Democrats voted against the measure
because it did not include protections for the “Dreamers,” young people
brought into the country by illegal-alien parents, who now have
temporary legal status under the Obama-era DACA program.
A report from NPR noted that last week, White House Chief of Staff
John Kelly told a caucus of Hispanic lawmakers that he had persuaded the
president that his long-promised border wall was unnecessary. As a
candidate, Kelly said, Trump was not “fully informed” of the border
situation when he pledged to build the wall and since then, the
president’s views on the subject had “evolved.”
The chief of staff reiterated those same points during an interview on Fox News, NPR reported.
With Republicans holding a slim majority in the Senate (51 out of 100
senators), one may wonder why all of these extensive negotiations are
necessary in order to approve a budget. It is true that not every
Republican was on board with the recent budget deal. In a recent
article, we quoted Senator Rand Paul’s explanation for why he could not
vote for the continuing resolution: “I’m just not voting to exceed the
spending caps, and I’m not voting for $700 billion deficits annually.”
However, even if the budget bill could have been improved to the point
where Paul and two other Republicans who were opposed to it could have
voted for it, Democrats still would have been able to sustain a
filibuster to stop it.
Under current Senate rules, a majority of 51 senators is not enough
to pass legislation that the minority party wants to filibuster. It is
for this reason that journalist Art Harman contributed an opinion
article to The Hill on January 24 in which he raised the following points:
leader in the loop at all in a Republican Senate, much less effectively
sitting in the driver’s seat? It’s because of the charred remnants of
the old Senate tradition, still called the “filibuster,” long after the
requirement to demonstrate rhetorical stamina was eliminated.
of the filibuster was incredibly rare, but today, every bill is
effectively held hostage to a 60-vote majority found nowhere in the
Constitution. The effect has been to neuter the Senate and thereby the
House. To force Republicans to write bills for Senator Schumer’s
approval rather than for Americans who want to secure our border, restore our nation’s defense, bring home our jobs and repeal and replace ObamaCare.
After providing several examples of how the filibuster has obstructed
the Trump administration’s efforts to accomplish its objectives,
including eliminating ObamaCare and obtaining Senate confirmation for
some of Trump’s appointees, Harman observed:
regular order and passing real budgets, but as long as the legislative
filibuster survives, there is little chance we will ever see anything
but perpetual continuing resolutions.
Harman noted that had not the Senate eliminated the filibuster for
votes on Supreme Court nominees, Neil Gorsuch would never have been
confirmed as an associate justice on the U.S. Supreme Court. (Gorsuch’s
nomination received 54 votes of approval.)
Harman quoted one of Trump’s tweets expressing support for exercising
what is called “the nuclear option” (eliminating the filibuster): If
the “stalemate continues, Republicans should go 51% (Nuclear Option) and
vote on real, long-term budget, no C.R.s!”
The article concluded by admonishing members of Congress: “If the
Senate ends the legislative filibuster, Congress had better pass a
budget that includes full funding for the wall, and then pass actual
budgets by September 30 in regular order.”
Related articles:
Government Shutdown Ends — This Time Democrats Blinked!
Rand Paul Explains Why He Won’t Vote to Extend Government Funding
“Bill of Love”: Trump’s Ongoing Effort to Strike Deal With Democrats for DACA Recipients
Trump and Democrats Working on Deal Over Future of DACA Recipients Before Program Expires
DHS Assistant Secretary Says Administration Supports Allowing “Dreamers” to Stay
Trump’s Apparent Willingness to Preserve DACA Disturbs His Conservative Base