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Key Republican-Democratic battles unresolved despite shutdown deal | Key Republican-Democratic battles unresolved despite shutdown deal |
(34 minutes later) | |
Lawmakers in the two parties are no closer to resolving the issues that triggered the shutdown, such as budget and immigration | Lawmakers in the two parties are no closer to resolving the issues that triggered the shutdown, such as budget and immigration |
Lauren Gambino in Washington | Lauren Gambino in Washington |
Tue 23 Jan 2018 21.44 GMT | |
First published on Tue 23 Jan 2018 18.43 GMT | |
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Three days after debate over federal spending and immigration policy shut down the federal government, key battles between Democrats and Republicans remained unresolved on Tuesday. | |
Donald Trump signed a short-term spending measure late on Monday, after Senate Democrats agreed on legislation to fund the government for three weeks, in exchange for a commitment to vote on ensuring protection for Dreamers, young undocumented migrants who were brought to the country as children. | Donald Trump signed a short-term spending measure late on Monday, after Senate Democrats agreed on legislation to fund the government for three weeks, in exchange for a commitment to vote on ensuring protection for Dreamers, young undocumented migrants who were brought to the country as children. |
The compromise, which ended the shutdown and returned hundreds of thousands of federal employees to work after they were furloughed on Monday, comes at a time of profound political polarization in Washington, when trust across the aisle is in short supply. | |
Liberal groups and progressive lawmakers were furious after a majority of Senate Democrats voted to end the shutdown on Monday, trusting that the Republican majority leader, Mitch McConnell, would indeed allow a vote on immigration next month. | |
McConnell on Tuesday reiterated that it was his “intention” to allow debate on immigration legislation that would protect Dreamers. The offer, he said, was conditional on the government remaining open, a tactical move to ward off another shutdown in three weeks. | |
“Because common sense and bipartisanship won out yesterday, we have a fresh start today,” McConnell said in a floor speech on Tuesday. “I challenge everyone to make the most of it. The American people are watching.” | |
Asked what he would say to Dreamers who were fearful the majority leader won’t keep his promise, McConnell told reporters: “I tend to keep my word.” | |
Even if the Senate does act, however, there is no guarantee the House Republican leadership will follow. | |
Yet the deal was enough to win support from 33 Senate Democrats, who joined 48 Republicans to reopen the government on Monday night. Sixteen progressive Democrats voted against the measure, including Senator Kamala Harris of California, who said it would be “foolhardy” to trust McConnell. | |
On Tuesday morning, the president tweeted: “Nobody knows for sure that the Republicans & Democrats will be able to reach a deal on DACA [Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals] by February 8, but everyone will be trying....with a big additional focus put on Military Strength and Border Security. | On Tuesday morning, the president tweeted: “Nobody knows for sure that the Republicans & Democrats will be able to reach a deal on DACA [Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals] 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!” | “The Dems have just learned that a Shutdown is not the answer!” |
Chuck Schumer, the Senate minority leader, parried criticism on Tuesday, insisting that Democratic leadership was “pleased” by the outcome of what was an audacious gambit to force Republicans’ hand on immigration. He told reporters that Democrats were “a lot better off today when it comes to the cause of Dreamers than we were four or five days ago”. | |
“Leader McConnell made a promise not just to Democrats but to Republicans as well. We expect him to keep his word to the body,” Schumer said, adding later that the motto was “trust but verify”. | |
Republicans and Democrats are no closer to resolving the issues that triggered the shutdown. They have no consensus on a budget and have yet to settle on an immigration compromise that could pass both chambers and win support from a White House in which immigration hardliners have the president’s ear. | Republicans and Democrats are no closer to resolving the issues that triggered the shutdown. They have no consensus on a budget and have yet to settle on an immigration compromise that could pass both chambers and win support from a White House in which immigration hardliners have the president’s ear. |
Trump praised one of those hardliners, his chief of staff, on Tuesday, tweeting: “Thank you to General John Kelly, who is doing a fantastic job, and all of the Staff and others in the White House, for a job well done. Long hours and Fake reporting makes your job more difficult, but it is always great to WIN, and few have won more than us!” | Trump praised one of those hardliners, his chief of staff, on Tuesday, tweeting: “Thank you to General John Kelly, who is doing a fantastic job, and all of the Staff and others in the White House, for a job well done. Long hours and Fake reporting makes your job more difficult, but it is always great to WIN, and few have won more than us!” |
For now, the fate of the Dreamers appears to lie in the hands of the Senate, where inchoate groups have formed to negotiate the issue without clear direction or leadership. | |
Several senators on Tuesday said the current state of negotiations was unmoored from an earlier bipartisan effort that paired increased border security and tighter controls on immigration with a Dream Act, legislation that would offer a conditional path to citizenship for certain undocumented people. | |
“There is not even an agreement on a starting point,” said Richard Durbin, the No 2 Senate Democrat, who has been at the center of negotiations over Dreamers. “But I will tell you, there is only one bipartisan bill that has been brought before the Senate. That should be the starting point.” | |
But Trump rejected that proposal during a now infamous meeting in which the president reportedly referred to countries in Africa and Central America as “shitholes” and demanded to know why the US couldn’t accept more immigrants from nations like Norway. | |
Senator Jeff Flake, a Republican from Arizona who has been working closely with Durbin, said there was no template for legislation to protect Dreamers. “This is a new effort entirely,” he told reporters. | |
Meanwhile, Schumer has rescinded his offer to allow funding for the construction on a border wall, which he had extended to Trump in a last-ditch effort to stave off a shutdown. | |
Since the White House rejected that offer, Schumer said he had taken the wall offer “off the table”. | |
Yet Senator John Cornyn of Texas, the No 2 Republican in the chamber, told reporters that Republicans would not accept permanent legal protections for young immigrants without a wall, which was “clearly part of a system of border security infrastructure that everybody agrees is necessary”. | |
In the House, Republicans have proposed a conservative alternative to the Dream Act. The Senate is unlikely to pass the plan, which was drafted by immigration hardliners. | |
Some Republicans have said debating immigration is pointless until it is clear where the president stands. The White House has released a laundry list of draconian demands. | |
US politics | US politics |
Donald Trump | Donald Trump |
US Senate | US Senate |
Democrats | Democrats |
US immigration | US immigration |
news | news |
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