They may not go anywhere, but they’re aimed at putting pressure on Republicans.
It’s day 17 of a partial government shutdown and still, no deal ... or anywhere close to one.
Democratic and Republican congressional staffers met with White House representatives over the weekend in an attempt to kickstart negotiations, but the two sides left talks with little in the way of actual progress.
Here’s where things stand: President Donald Trump is as insistent as ever on securing more than $5 billion to fund a physical barrier at the southern border (though he’s now open to steel instead of concrete), and Democrats are similarly holding the line, refusing to provide more than the $1.3 billion they’ve offered up for border security.
Their game of chicken is starting to affect Americans across the country and has already taken a toll on roughly 800,000 federal workers — who won’t be receiving any kind of back pay until the partial shutdown is over — as well as thousands of other government contractors who may not get paid at all. Many federal employees have said they’ve needed to file unemployment or take on additional work to address this gap in their paychecks, which will become apparent this week on an upcoming January 11 pay period.
As talks continue to flounder, both sides have put forth their own proposals to put an end to this shutdown. Here are the latest offers they’ve respectively put on the table:
What Republicans have proposed
The White House over the weekend sent a letter to congressional leaders, obtained by Politico, outlining what Trump will settle for in shutdown negotiations. In it, Acting Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought outlines the president’s latest requests:
- $5.7 billion to build a steel barrier along the country’s southern border, an increase of $4.1 billion over the previous amount doled out by Senate appropriations,
- $4.2 billion for detention beds, an increase of $798 million over the previous Senate bill,
- and $800 million to address humanitarian needs like “enhanced medical support [and] transportation.”
The letter is clear: Trump isn’t backing down from his demands for more wall funding, and he’s standing firm on adding more detention beds — both efforts that Democrats have long opposed. It also suggests, however, that he’s open to some possible concessions to Democrats — since “humanitarian” funding to improve the treatment of migrants at the border is something that they’ve prioritized, according to the Washington Post.
Additionally, Trump offered what amounts to a seemingly semantic concession about the wall itself, telling reporters Sunday that he would be comfortable going with a steel structure, if it would satisfy Democrats’ qualms over building a concrete wall: “I informed my folks to say that we’ll build a steel barrier,” Trump said. “They don’t like concrete, so we’ll give them steel.”
(There hasn’t been any indication that the material that the wall would be built with would mitigate Democrats’ opposition, though Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) said the president’s shift marked some slight progress in the negotiations.)
Much like previous shutdown debates, a deal for wall funding in exchange for a permanent path to citizenship for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients has been floated by lawmakers like Sen. Lindsey Graham — though House Democratic leaders have previously said they weren’t interested.
A DACA compromise did not appear to be at the forefront of talks this weekend, though some lawmakers believe it could still be the key to a final resolution.
If a deal can’t be reached, Trump has also said that he is considering declaring a national emergency to secure funding for the wall. House Armed Services Committee Chair Adam Smith said during a media appearance on Sunday that the move could potentially work in the short term but that it would likely face a quick legal challenge. House Intel Committee Chair Adam Schiff was a bit more skeptical and simply said it was “non-starter.”
What Democrats have proposed
Democrats, meanwhile, haven’t shown any sign of caving to Trump’s demands on a border wall — and are continuing to take a series of relatively symbolic actions to put pressure on their Republican counterparts.
This week, House Democrats plan to pass four individual appropriations bills that would fund agencies that are not controversial, like the Treasury Department, the Interior Department, and the Agriculture Department.
Their actions are largely about party messaging: House Democrats already effectively passed these bills as part of a larger funding package that closely resembled legislation the GOP-controlled Senate approved last year. By bringing them up again and approving each bill one-by-one, Democrats are trying to hammer the message that they’re actively working to address the shutdown while Republicans look like they’re standing by. Republicans, however, have said they aren’t interested in opening the government in a fragmented way, Politico reports.
House Democrats’ actions come as pressure continues to grow on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell — from both Democrats as well as Republican leaders like Sens. Cory Gardner and Susan Collins — who are urging him to take up legislation that would reopen the government, even if it doesn’t provide the wall funding Trump has asked for.
What happens now
Congress isn’t officially back in session this week until Tuesday — and a growing number of lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are clamoring for leadership to work out some kind of deal. Already, three Democratic senators have said they are interested in holding up Senate votes this week if a vote isn’t held on funding bills.
As public outcry over the shutdown grows and the effect on tax refunds and government programs like food stamps becomes more likely, the pressure is on lawmakers to figure out a compromise and on Republicans, especially, to decide whether they’ll take up the bills that Democrats are shepherding through the House.
There are a couple different ways this shutdown could end.
With Republicans getting more heat for the shutdown than Democrats, it’s possible they could somehow convince Trump to settle on a lower figure for border security funding, while emphasizing that this conversation can continue even if the government is reopened.
There’s also potentially a larger deal that could be brokered: one involving a tradeoff between protections for DREAMERs and increased funding for the border wall. (Though Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has fiercely pushed back against this in the past.)
Which path lawmakers will take is still anybody’s guess.
from Vox - All http://bit.ly/2Vxdd5z
Breaking News: House Democrats have a new strategy to reopen the government: pass smaller spending bills - News Paper
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