Getting the government open for business again was the right thing to do. The cost involved in a government shutdown, both for the country and the federal employees/contractors without work. I am glad they also got a 6-year extension for CHIP which provides health insurance for millions of children.
I am disgusted with fellow liberal democrats upset that the shutdown wasn't prolonged.
1
"You can't trust Mitch McConnell." Yeah, but Chuck Schumer's word has always been gold, right? Like when he stated in a television interview that he would NEVER shut down the government over immigration? Pure hypocrisy and lies. Remember Bernie Sanders lambasting Republicans in 2013 for shutting down the government and saying "America needs to pay it's bills!"? Where was he this time around? I didn't hear a peep. At least this president didn't exacerbate the situation with illogical punishments like shutting down White House tours and closing open air war memorials made of cement to veterans. Another meaningless "red line" isued by Democrats, that's all this was.
1
The Republicans have proven many many times...they can't be trusted! Their word, is worth about as much as Confederacy Currency on the Bitcoin Market!
Why do the weak kneed Dems keep allowing themselves to be swindled, and Played the fool ?
We need a Third Party now; one that will stand up to the Right Wing Oppressors!
Chuck & Nancy needs to resign their posts...until they learn how to stand up to BULLIES! Appearing weak and spineless, do not exude Leadership.
You'll never get a third party without a national election law that equalizes the intrinsic costs of ballot access.
1
I will chock this up as another victory for Trump. Along with his backers in the Kremlin. Anything that makes the U.S. appear weaker, is good for the KGB/FSB...and Trumps efforts to "Make Russia Great Again"!
Why would any Democrat trust any Republican, with their record of reneging on things rolling off their Forked Tongues?
How many times do they have to prove they speak with Forked Tongues?
One of the best things to come out of ending the shutdown is the six reauthorization of CHIP, to provide for the nutritional and medical needs of underprivileged children. Both Democrats and Republicans supported this effort. What I find most heartening about this success is that politicians, especially the Democrats, did something to benefit bonafide Americans, That is truly inspiring and is what this nation is all about. As for the DACA dreamers, I say grant them citizenship, but that will be a one time deal, after that no more amnesty. I realize that is wishful thinking as the Democrats will continue to do everything possible to encourage and justify the illegal entry in this nation to build their constituency. Measures need to be put in place to curb illegal entry into the USA, if that means a Wall, then build it! Build it and they will come! Thank you.
2
Senator Susan Collins not Snow,
DACA futures went lower with this CR. The Ultra-Right wing of the House has shown its' inability to compromise on anything. Add the untrustworthy Mitch and you have a "promise" with fingers crossed. To seal a DACA deal the Republicans will want to gut SS and Medicare. Paul Ryan makes no bones about wanting to attack the safety net millions depend on so to finance the windfall given to their political backers via the tax cut. Democrats have better grow a spine in 3 weeks.
1
These people will simply bounce their disagreements back and forth. Heads they win, tails you lose.
This is called the art of the Democratic deal. They should write a book!
Thank Amy Klobachar, Joe Manchin, and Senator Snow, three grown ups who wanted to do what is right for the country. They were the catalyst for the group that cobbled together the agreement. This is in stark contrast to The two Senate leaders Schumer and McConnel who were more interested in sound bites and trying to insult the other.
2
Of course McConnell can't be trusted and he won't disappoint. Neither he nor Trump can deliver on DACA without approval from the custodian of campaign promises Miller, who won't ever agree a pathway to citizenship or some form of security of residency. Hence McConnell's mealy-mouthed 'It would be my intention' qualification.
It's all a question of what Trump's base wants and therefore the role and future of its gatekeeper Miller becomes critical. Mind you, if the Dems care to focus in on him to the extent HE becomes the (front page) news, he becomes 'dead man walking'.
2
I don't get it. I support DACA . But shutting down the government for it was just stupid. What did Chuck and Nancy think they had to gain?. It's time for them to go!
3
How amazing would it be if President Trump didn't sign it and forced everyone to actually figure out how to move us forward together as a country?
I am a New Yorker who has never been too fond of Senator Schumer.
To me, he has always been a politician without enough back bone. He is lucky to be in a blue state, which almost guarantees his lifelong tenure.
I wish New Yorkers can see through him just like I have, knowing we can have a better representative not only because Schemer will always shortchange us but also because anyone in an unchallenging seat for too long tends to be complacent and forget why voters elected him in the first place.
5
Schumer caved to the "promise" by GOP. Sorry Dreamers.
2
Why is so much press going to the lack of a deal on DACA and so little going to the even more popular extension of CHIP? This was a very smart move by the Democratic leadership, agreeing to a two week spending bill for 6 years of funding for CHIP. This is a no brainer, and if the left can't see this for the good deal that it is I fear for Democrats chances in November.
2
Totally agree. But unfortunately, the true-believers of the far-left can't see the road for the clouds, and they are being led by self-serving, ambitious political contenders like Gillibrand and Harris.
4
Dear Paul:
I'm sorry but your attempt to find something to praise about what the Dems did by caving just ain't gonna cut it. I watched as one Dem after another tried to explain how they and we who support them Dems were "winning". Where have I heard that spin before.
The Dems questioned that idiot-in-chief about his wobbling last week then they did the same. Where I ask were the Dems of Friday on Monday? They folded, caved, blinked, use whatever description you want. The tell could be plainly seen on the faces of the Dems and the Republicans. Hard to imagine, but Trump and the Republicans won. You could see it with McConnell's beaming smile. This most recent "promise" is not that different from all his others. He said, if they do not reach an agreement by February 8th, they will continue to debate, and here's the rub, as long as the government stays open. That means if we are still deadlocked at the deadline another CR will need to be passed. If the Dems refuse, and another shutdown occurs, then all bets are off. That sounds like a McConnell victory to me a lifelong Dem. The problem is Schumer, my Senator, has little to bargain with. Being in the minority is awful. McConnell holds all the cards, and he and Chuck know it. They're both pros at this game. And the fact is: the Dems lost this battle. More egregious, it leaves the Dreamers, who came forth based on promises made by President Obama and the Dems back then, hanging by a thread.
DD
Manhattan
The minority leader got three Dem Senators who face a tough reelection race in Nov to propose by unaminous consent on the Senate floor to permit the military to be paid during the shutdown. These three proposals were shot down by McConnell just by him saying "I object". The GOP including Trumph were loudly proclaiming that the Dems were hurting our military by causing the shutdown. The above illustrates that it was the GOP who was hurting the military.
2
Dear EZ:
A very astute observation, but I believe it was all for nothing. The average clod out there is barely going to remember what happened on Monday come November. That's just the way American citizens operate. They can rattle off more facts and figures about the upcoming Super Bowl and the personal details of Tom Brady then they can tell you about McConnell or Schumer. As long as that is what attracts the average American's attention politics will continue to serve the very few at the top and not the masses at the bottom. Politicos have known this for eons. Why do you think the pull this canard on the American people?
To be in the Majority is a powerful position. McConnell and Schumer both know it's a world of difference between the two. The American voter gave both House of Congress and the presidency to the Republicans. Dems have nothing to bargain with except obstruction. Once they committed to voting "Nay" on Friday the deed was done. The fact is they folded on Monday. McConnell made another "promise", just like all the others before. If you read McConnell's statement on paper you'll see McConnell agreed to nothing. On February 8th, if no agreement is reached, then yet another CR needs to be signed to continue debating. If the Dems again vote "Nay", then McConnell's "promise" is null and void. One thing is certain: I would not want to be a Dreamer depending on the Dems to save me. That is a rotten shame.
DD
Manhattan
2
Trump was right- people will get tired from his winning so much.
Democrats lost big time on this fiasco. They shut down the US government at the behest of illegal aliens.
I can’t wait for the Democrats to run on open borders and tax increases. Ivanka Trump will be president before the likes of Elizabeth Warren ever gets to be. At least last time you could blame Hillary.
4
The government needs to stop passing these so-called Continuing Resolutions and pass a real budget. That will not happen until the opposition stops holding America hostage to extremism. Extremism. which as far as I am concerned is unpatriotic. The opposition closed the government over people who are in this nation illegally over the nutritional and medical needs of bonafide American children! Have you ever heard of something so insane, as to turn your back on Americans, in favor of foreigners? To solve this problem, I say give these DACA dreamers citizenship, and then, say no more, no more amnesty. Then enact measures to prevent people from coming into the USA illegally. If that means a Wall, then build the Wall! From all I have read and heard on TV and radio, these illegal immigrants are nothing but trouble. They bring nothing good to our nation. They need to be stopped. Thank you.
2
CHIP, which the Democrats have been fighting to restore for months, was attached to that CR by Paul Ryan as a poison pill to try to force the Democrats to support yet another CR as Congress managed to do nothing for a year but pass $1.5 trillion in tax cuts for billionaires and corporations.
Why don't you research just how many bills to help the good citizens of this country have been suppressed by McConnell over the past few years? He was doing the same with DACA until the Democrats and four Republicans stopped him from doing it by shutting down the government for less than three day (!) in order to force him to bring a bill to the floor. Why do you think Lindsay Graham and Jeff Flake and two other Republicans supported the Democrats this past weekend?
And by the way, the vast majority of Democrats and Republicans funded the CHIP program for another six years today.
3
Shame on you, Chuck Schumer, for letting down us Democrats who hoped you'd stand your ground. Now, T**** and his Congressional enablers can rightfully claim a victory. Your fellow Democratic NY Senator and both NJ Senators tried to valiantly stand against GOP bullying, while you caved in. You think you are a leader. I thought so too, as well as a brilliant negotiator. You proved to me and many other Democrats that you are as much a tool of the White House and the venal Republicans as anyone.
4
What on earth did you think the outcome was going to be? That they were going to hold the government hostage until the Republicans and Democrats could write a bill and then vote on it? Really?? Do you know how long that process is likely to take? In the meantime, the whole operation of the government would remain at a standstill until that happened? And just how do you think the Democrats would fare in the midterms after doing that?
Warren, Harris, Gillibrand, Booker, and Sanders et al. are all trying to take the Democrats to the extreme left fringes of the party for personal gain by setting themselves up as the leaders of that movement. I think they're going to end up sabotaging the promise of a huge Democrat victory in the midterms. The progressive movement in the Democrat party is responsible for our loss in the November 2016 election, when so many of their purists couldn't bring themselves to vote for Hillary,and if they don't stop this nonsense they're going to guarantee that the Democrats don't win either house in November. They gave us trump, and we won't escape him until the party comes back to the center.
2
There is really no way to spin this as a positive for the Democrats...a misguided gamble and ended up with no better deal than they had the day before the shutdown. Now they can be painted as having put the needs of 'illegal' immigrants ahead of the country's government. They lost their nerve when it was obvious which way things were going. The Party would be better off with new leadership.
That said, and I can't believe this is possible to think, but would it be possible for this group of people to actually come to some kind of serious immigration reform that has eluded the past couple of Presidents? DACA - I really think everyone wants this resolved with a path for these people to stay in the country - even Trump (I really believe he wants it - or wants a way out here).
The Democrats are going to have to compromise on increasing border security and the chain of people allowed to enter the country once someone is in and the Republicans absolutely must resolve DACA for good.
Maybe leaders this dysfunctional are just the ones to resolve this issue.
3
All those commenting here who are angry at democrats for being weak and caving are precisely the reason democrats have become so weakened. Catering to their extreme left is not a winning strategy.
What the extreme left considers "winning" is sticking to positions that aren't viable. How can that be a good thing for democrats? Democrats should be making more decisions like ending this irrational shutdown, not less.
4
Some Democrats, several of them pretty astute, have complained that not only do McConnell and Ryan often break their word, even "iron clad" deals, but Ryan has not even agreed to the immigration deal. All true.
However, the extension is only three weeks long. If the Republicans don't produce before then, I am sure there will be another shutdown, this one until there are solid results actually occur.
4
McConell will pull the same thing he did with Collins. The Democrats will look week. "Give 'me an inch, they take a mile."
The Democrats need to see all sides of their own constituency. First, we are almost all for the Dreamers.
Second, our views as Democrats shouldn't be discounted as bigotry or prejudice. Most countries place their country's language first and foremost. We no longer have a country where language and assimilation melted us all in one pot. Now, it seems like a few dozen mini countries who one they become citizens have no reason to keep using our the language or travel outside their neighborhoods. In the cities of this country it is entirely normal to have all your services provided by 5 different languages and thick accents that are beyond understanding. We are becoming unique and divided by this. Until Dems can address this without discounting this part of their constituency, they're going to continue having to cave to the other extreme which is scary and nationalistic.
Most people actually agree that our biggest division is communication.
1
Hey! Everybody likes a long weekend. What the heck.
I think it's safe to say this is the stupidest government shutdown ever. The blame goes to the side that acted well beyond any leverage it actually had. The end result of this charade was failure and embarrassment for the Democrats. Frankly it has all the earmarks of grandstanding by the so called "progressives"; Gillibrand, Warren, Harris and Sanders, whose presidential conceits exceed their collective common sense.Other than more drama, web clicks and media hype, to repeat this meaningless stupidity three weeks from now invites comparison to the definition of insanity.
7
Trump is about to find out firsthand what the phrase means....
"You can fool some of the people some of the time, but you can't fool all the people all of the time".
Vote Dem in 2018!!
8
The Democrats quickly came to their senses! Not to come to their senses on DACA. The only solutions is family reunification of the children and their parents in their country of birth. It is win wins for all gets rid of the illegal stigma.
4
My husband, a US citizen, was born in Cuba and has been in this country for nearly 50 years. His oldest daughter would like to emigrate to the US. Why shouldn't my husband be able to petition to bring her here? Because of some Fox News-watching bigots who live in this country? Let's be honest here. That's exactly why there's this push to limit LEGAL family reunification, which has been the law in this land for generations and has helped make this country great.
4
Why did he wait so long? She could have applied as a political refugee years ago. If he left there 50 years ago, she's not a child.
We are not talking about special circumstances, the problem is, if you make the Dreamers citizens immediately and allow unfettered chain migration you don't have 800,000 people becoming legal, you have many, many more millions and those people are going to be able to have more relatives come in.
We don't have unlimited funds here unless you just want to print money so that those of us in the MIDDLE class, who saved all their lives and worked hard, find their savings to be worthless.
I'm all for helping others, but at a reasonable pace, and these people did NOT arrive here legally. We don't even KNOW which ones came here as children, there are no records.
Why have ONLY 800 of the 800,000 joined the military? If they are so anxious to be here, why not at least 8000 of them ? just 10 percent?
1
OK, president Trump. If you're so concerned about unborn children why not show a little concern for "born" kids, even if the base thinks they're criminals.
3
Shutting down the government was dumb when the Republicans did it, and it would have been dumb for the Democrats to continue with this one. They knew that and wisely capitulated, knowing that today's "cave-in" will be seen in the fall as doing the right thing for the country.
2
Do Republicans know that the Minority Party in both Houses does not manage the processes of legislation? I guess not. I guess they're dumb as rocks, like their leaders who love to explain otherwise.
Mitch McConnell broke his oath to defend The Constitution when he did not bring President Obama's SC nomination to a vote FOR 10 MONTHS! He and all of the Republican Senate co-conspirators disgrace their states; and true to form, they again delayed deliberative processes to create a crisis, to claim gov't is broken, to blame Democrats, and to attempt to push through legislation that they would not have the votes for, if they believed in democracy. They don't.
Rock-headed Republicans are just in a blood feud with the McLiberals, so they get angry when they're told. They'll be joyous because Trump said "I won". They are Trump-brand nothing-burgers qualified to hold a Trump sign. SO DISCONNECTED, they can't see that it's already been decided, Mr 37% Popularity will be their 2020 nominee. They are stuck with a pile of stink until he loses big on 3 November 2020. Tick-tock.
2
A terrible mistake to trust the Republicans on immigration. We will be back here again.
8
re: the WH answering machime--"“This telephone message falls in the very thin, gray area where this White House lives, which is quite a bit north of definitely wrong, but just south, or on the borderline, of illegal,” Mr. Eisen said"
WHAT? Typical party hypocrisy. it's legal, but I don't like it so it's wrong. how do I move to Antarctica?
1
Democrats should NOT accept a compromise. Buckle up and DO NOT compromise!
4
Democrats are the minority party. Not compromising will get them absolutely nowhere!
1
Not compromising got the GOP everywhere. It got them Gorsuch and now it’s our turn. Chuk’s big mistake was not shutting it down with the most unpopular tax scam in history. I would have said to McConnell....fix CHIP, Daca and make this tax scam benefit the working people not billionaires. If these three things don’t happen we shut it down.
Chuck miscalculated and tied Daca to this only and it back fired. We need to primary chuck out.
Trump and his administration can not be trusted for even 1 second.
Trump fancies himself as a master deal maker - when people don't trust you to make a fair deal, you have lost the capability of being a good deal maker. You might fool people the first time around, but it won't happen twice.
6
why should Congress be immune to a shutdown?
1
I'd like to see how each senator voted. Is there a list? Haven't seen a link online.
THE SENATE DID THE RIGHT THING GETTING THE GOVERNMENT BACK UP AND RUNNING We'll have to wait until February to see what shenanigans and folderol the charlatans and buffoons among the GOPpers have in store to shut down the government in time for Valentine's Day.
2
I'm checking the nyt real estate listings for property in Antarctica. as a gov't, we are lost. there is no more compromise, no more working out differences. There is only lies, blame and finger pointing. as a society, we are lost. there is no more "differences of opinion", there is no more middle ground. there is only I'm right and you're wrong. and if you're wrong we hate you. how can you be so ignorant as to disagree with me. we may be past the point of no return, to become a third rate corrupt, poverty stricken eastern European country. but clearly we are slowly sinking into the abyss. unless we can change our attitudes and come together with respect for each other and realize differences of opinions are just that: differences of opinion, not rights and wrongs.
1
Reality check both house an congress an prisident sworn to serve people for the people. Dont open the government if means wont put american people first ,jobs. End unnessry government spending on imports root cause of lost jobs in usa .
1
Boy, Schumer and his colleagues folded like a cheap accordian. Didn't even make it through one workday. And he has the nerve to refer to Trump as jello? And whose moronic idea was a shutdown for DACA in the first place? In 3 days the GOP advanced their border security demands more than they had in 3 months. Thanks Chuck!
4
If trump accidentally vetoed the bill to reopen the government, can we get a new president?
What is the pound of flesh they will demand for a DACA agreement? If indeed it ever gets "discussed." Given the Republicans' penchant for lying (and it's not just Trump, as we all know), why would they believe McConnell? And where is Ryan in all this? Sharpening his trident? I used to be a mainstream centrist Clinton Democrat; Trump, Ryan and McConnell have turned me into a radical Progressive. Find your spines, Dems!!
2
Those who cannot see that the repubs cannot be trusted should be tossed out as well.
Face it, both parties are multimillionaires clubs.
5
The existence of the DACA recipients is the inevitable by-product that resulted from lack of political will and courage by both the Republicans and Democrats to openly discuss the pros and cons of immigration in an open and transparent matter.
And that failure has lead to this ugly mess.
1
The Democrats caved again, getting only a promise from a man who has no credibility whatsoever.
We need an opposition party!
5
And what exactly did you expect the Democrats, the minority party, to do here? They can't introduce legislation, and they have virtually no leverage except for the filibuster and that can be ended by cloture, which requires only 60 votes. Cloture couldn't work on Friday night because five Republicans withheld their votes for it. That is a very uncommon occurrence.
Schumer made McConnell issue a very public statement of his intention to let DACA and other immigration matters get to the floor of the Senate. That is actually a big deal, and if he reneges the public will then understand why the Democrats won't approve another CR.
The only way there will be any substantial progressive change in this country is if people go out and vote Democrat in November. Until then, we're done for.
3
I am a hardliner on illegal immigration, but I believe Schumer play his hand perfectly. He got his shutdown over the week end with a lot of fire and drama but with it ending on Monday little actual damage was done to the nation or any individual. There is nothing the Senate could have passed that would have had a chance in the House. The issue is still alive for the coming midterm election. The Dems can say we tried but we just needs a few more Congressional votes. It would have been much better for the GOP if the shutdown would have lasted longer and caused some real pain. Well played Chucky.
1
Why is Senator Schumer smiling? He gets skunked by Trump every time.
My fellow Democrats, show some spine.
4
What the Dems just did was commit political suicide. They look so righteous on Friday, so honorable. They were willing to put it all on the line for the Dreamers. It was a beautiful thing to see, a true profile in courage. That lasted all of three days. Dems in Purple states got wobbly on Schumer. The Dems caved. The Dems voted with Republicans this afternoon 81 - 18. What an absolute disgrace. Of course my two Senators, Schumer and Gillibrand, voted in the negative. They e-mailed just now claiming a victory. If you think I am buying their malarkey you and they are wrong. I just sent Schumer and Gillibrand e-mails, and I read them the riot act. In no uncertain terms I told them their chanced of receiving my generous financial support for November is in a precarious position. I am deeply disappointed in them and the entire Democratic party, and yes that includes Bernie who was just on TV making sorry excuses for the Dems decision today. The Dems saw this Fall as a chance to take back at least one House of Congress. With what they did today, those chances have diminished drastically. Shame on the Dems, all of them.
DD
Manhattan
6
Gillibrand voted against ending the shut down.
The Dems committed political suicide only if progressives like you don't make donations or vote for them in the November midterms. If the party purists who voted for Stein or Johnson or didn't vote the top of the ticket in 2016 had voted for Hillary, we wouldn't be in this mess.
Please keep your focus on the endgame. This country is not comprised of a far-left majority, but we can make progress for the masses incrementally if we keep our eye on the ball.
1
Dear Cordelia:
I know how my Senators voted. Schumer voted "Yea" because he is not running for higher office. Gillibrand voted "Nay" because she and all the 2020 presidential hopefuls know they will have bragging rights,but little else.
Old enough (seven plus decades) to know how the political game is played, I am well aware of Gillibrand's lineage. Her political roots go back generations, to Albany, where her grandmother was one of the most powerful politicos in Albany County, which was run by party Chairman Dan O'Connell. He ran one of the most effective machines outside of Daley's Chicago. O'Connell's man front man, Erastus Corning III, was America's longest tenured Mayor. He ran Albany for 42 years, even from his deathbed in a hospital in Boston. Kirsten's grandmother was an aide decamp to Corning which is a euphemism for mistress. So please, spare me the details of your belief in the purity of politics. Politics is a dirty rotten business. Always has been, always will be.
I have been a lifelong Democrat, as have my parents, activists in politics since FDR. I never voted for a Republican, never will. But I will call 'em as I see 'em, and I am very upset at what occurred Monday. What the Dems "gained" in this bargain was crumbs to quote Nancy. What we Dems did was kick the can down the road to February 8th. I read McConnell's "promise". It's a canard. For political expediency the Dems saved themselves while hanging the Dreamers out to dry. Shameful.
DD
Manhattan
DACA would not have been an issue if the Dreamers' parents were Nordic and from Trump's favorite country - Norway.
2
A three week reprieve, and this is making America great again?
3
This agreement could have ben reached 3 days back without forcing Gov, Shutdown and both parties are to be blamed, but the final blame should go to President Trump, as he is in charge of running the Gov.
2
Congress - incompetent, ineffective, incapable and, hopefully one day - inconsequential.
1
I'm going to put this out there, because then I can't chicken out.
If these guys double-cross the people who were brought here as children and institute a mass deportation program, I will personally get myself to the airport and chain myself to a handrail or a door pull or something.
Call it my personal Rubicon or last straw, whatever.
Once you're gone you can never come back
When you're out of the blue and into the black.
Neil Young
4
How is it possible that we could throw out 700,000+ young people? Have we no honor? No compassion? Plus 92% of them are employed--- so much for Trump bleating about them being a problem. Every person this nation comes from immigrant stock-- unless one is 100% Native American...and that is pretty uncommon as our settler ancestors killed the Native peoples...even gave them blankets infected with typhoid to wrap up their babies. A dark history indeed. And Trump adds to it daily.
I love Tammy Duckworth's speech.......about Cadet Bone Spurs, this is something the Democrats should have playing for every fund raiser.
4
Democrats really should have took heed of the great wisdom bestowed upon us from past presidents:
“There's an old saying in Tennessee — I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again.”
― George W. Bush
Oh you Democrats.... You just got fooled again! no no... uh no no no....
6
Before we democrats implode over what happened, isn’t the goal to get power in 2018?
In the U. S. Senate of these democrats up for re-election: Joe Donnelly, Indiana, Jon Tester, Montana, Heidi Heitkamp, North Dakaota, Joe Manchin, West Virginia, Bob Casey, Pennsylvania and Sherord Brown, Ohio, which one benefits from pushing DACA? How about we get power in 2018 first, then not squander the opportunity for immigration reform like we did in 2008.
2
It is interesting that Rand Paul and Bernie Sanders were among the Senators who voted against the bill. The far left and the far right often agree. Extremes meet.
New leadership desperately needed in Dems Party. Schumer was ready to give Trump everything over cheeseburgers on Friday and was rebuffed.
And then after much showmanship, 15 members of his caucus cut a deal and deliver a fait acompli... Yes, likely part of the plan but optics demonstrate Schumer as an ineffectual leader and worse negotiator. Change required. Time to step aside Chuck.
3
If the Democrats are this wishy washy when the 2018 mid terms are here they can expect to lose again. Why was DACA the bargaining chip ( I support DACA)? Why not something that protects our jobs, or our health care, or making college more affordable, they could have even picked something to do with Women's rights, or the environment. They need to get with what are forefront priorities with the middle class. If they are going to be Hillary 2.0 just forget it.
5
In addition to DACA,, The Democrats tied caps on military spending, disaster relief and a couple of other issues to their CR demand.
Hillary 2.0 would be a brilliant choice compared to Trump 1.0. I hope the leftwing Democrats remember that in November 2018 or we'll Republican congressional redux.
1
Not sure why there's so much skepticism about Trump's interest in reaching a deal on DACA. He's always been positive about DACA. His priority has always been the wall.
It's democrats refusal to agree to Trump's priority and not the president's refusal to agree to theirs that has made a deal impossible. Democrats' opposition is counterproductive to reaching a deal. Trump would easily make a deal on DACA if his priority is met.
3
Schumer gave him the wall on Friday and despite that received a call from Kelly two hours later demanding even more concessions. I suspect family reunification immigration and the diversity lottery were among them.
2
The deal to extend funding to Feb 8 is a win for Democrats. Schumer showed good strategy by getting a pledge from McConnell to discuss DACA only. If he reneged Democrats can stop funding again.
2
Its not like Democrats really had a lot of leverage here.
Aside from those who are understanding, there are a lot of people angry about Democrats accepting these terms for ending the shutdown. Really, the best way to express that anger is to vote more Democrats into office so the more thoughtful party is able to pursue meaningful legislation without these brinksmanship fights.
2
All of you people saying he gave in too easy, Schumer got McConnell to agree in the complete and total view of the public to bring a bill with regards to DACA and also extended CHIP funding for 6 years. What more can he do than this? The Democrats are not in charge and do not get to dictate the objectives of the Senate unilaterally.
McConnell must be given an opportunity to follow through on his word. This was a brilliant move by Senator Schumer and a responsible handling of the situation by Senator McConnell. In my opinion, both parties come out of this looking good as they are apparently open to actual debate and negotiation. Meanwhile, the Trump Administration again looks like the drunk Uncle of this dinner party by begging for attention and wanting all of the credit and none of the blame.
2
Surely the Republicans will keep their word. NOT! Still this is a good move on Schumer's part.
1
This kicks the can down the road to February 8, so it is not like the Democrats caved on their issues. And by the same token, the Republicans didn't cave either.
Never mind, I found the list.
The only reason the R's re-opened the government was to allow Trump to go to Davos on Wednesday.
2
WOW! They see a can and kick it down the road a bit and claim that they have actually done something. In a couple of weeks they will kick the same can again and call it government. Well done GOP, well done Dems you have really earned your pay-checks this week.
2
Did Congress insert pictures so Stable Genius can comprehend what's on his desk? Will Stephen Miller be allowed to whisper in his ear and point out the lack of cruelty in it? Will Trump become inexplicably enraged by the inclusion of the CHIP funding? (Sorry so snide...)
1
Do Democrats realize that illegal immigrants can’t vote? While Trump was pandering to those who can actually vote, Democrats focused on a bloc who cannot. In related news, the Republicans control the government
3
All of life is a stage, and they are merely players.
Has Trump signed yet? Or will Miller and Kelly talk him into a veto?
I'd like to know if I should report for work tomorrow.
Everything that is wrong with the politics of the country - and we must admit there is a fair bit - is represented by the appalling Sanders with her faux humour, her sneer, her duplicity and her disingenuousness.
My 'come back Sean Spicer; all is forgiven' probably says it all.
6
The CHIPS program for six years is good, and on the rest we shall see!
3
The mistake that Democrats made was to ask for immigration reform as part of their negotiations to reopen the government. They should have asked for cut and dry promises not to attack Social Security, Medicare and the ACA.
Skepticism should greet this promise by House and Senate Republicans to take up immigration in a sincere humane bipartisan manner. The Trump Republican base screams bloody murder whenever a Trump Republican treats a brown person decently and humanely.
5
I think it's safe to say this is the stupidest government shutdown ever. The blame goes to the side that acted well beyond any leverage it actually had. The end result of this charade was failure and embarrassment for the Democrats. Frankly it has all the earmarks of grandstanding by the so called "progressives"; Harris, Sanders, Gillibrand, and Warren whose presidential aspirations far exceed their any common sense.
Looking back, I find it interesting that when Republicans deliberately orchestrated a government shutdown under President Obama, Democrats including Obama, had no problem and were laser focused in singling out the GOP's fiscally conservative base, even suggesting the hard right of the party were disloyal hostage takers, even terrorists in a couple of instances.
Now, with the shoe on the other foot, the Democratic leaders played to their progressive hard left base insisting they are too pure of heart and motive to succumb to similar political pandering’s of government shutdowns past.
Are there any questions as to why Independents are fastest growing political group? I am still attempting to figure out at what point did both parties stop paying attention to their more moderate middle.
Other than more drama, web clicks and media hype, to repeat this meaningless stupidity three weeks from now invites comparison to the definition of insanity.
4
Not to the side that actually has power and is in Government on every level? Wow, the ignorance is strong with this one
Attention was focused on POtuS' total incompetence. Even McConnell was criticizing his ineptness. What do Democrats do? Let him off the hook & get nothing in return. If this is their "strategy" we're in more trouble than I thought.
3
Ah a Schumer Shutdown.
Shutdown the government then wait a few days to accept exactly what was on offer before.
This was a Trump win.
Shutdowns are not something that any party should toy with. Either you are serious about your reasons and feel that the consequences are worth it or you shouldn't have done it.
Schumer showed that he shouldn't have done it. It was a waste and a farce.
It was also morally reprehensible, backstabbed Dreamers for nothing, and drove a wedge between much of the base of the Democratic Party.
Ideals- (noun, never in conjunction with a verb) Something one claims to support but is not willing to follow up with action.
SEE Democratic Ideals.
Often seen when there might be a hit on rich elite white liberals.
2
It's a good sign for now. I have no issue with better border security so if that ends up being traded for more leniency on the illegals who were brought here as kids and are upstanding individuals otherwise.
2
Let's try for a win/win here.
* A DACA amnesty for people who didn't knowingly break the law, since they were brought here by their parents.
* An end to chain migration where immigrants can sponsor family members ad infinitum.
* Mandatory E-verify for all new hires for jobs in the U.S.
If Congress passes a bill that includes all this, we can help dreamers while decreasing future illegal immigration. Otherwise, a new amnesty will just encourage more law breaking.
4
Chain migration? That term has been repeated so many times here that it must be a staple on Fox News.
I support family reunification immigration, which is what "chain migration" really is. My husband, a US citizen born in Cuba, would like to bring his adult daughter here. Any why shouldn't he be permitted to do it? If there's going to be any modification to the family reunification policy, let's end reunification for sisters, brothers, aunts and uncles. But to eliminate a parent's ability to bring in an adult child is inhumane.
1
Well, why isn't it "inhumane" to keep people from bringing in their brothers, sisters, uncles and aunts?
We have to draw these lines somewhere, or we essentially have open borders.
1
Because the closest biological bonds we share are those between a parent and child.
And as you just admitted, lines do have to be drawn somewhere, at least in this political climate. So I would draw them to allow parents and previously unclaimed adult children to reunify, but not sisters and brothers.
By the way, in case you didn't know this, an adult child can petition for his or her parent with the highest possible immigration preference, which translates into a much shorter waiting time, but a parent claiming an adult child gets a lesser preference. Sisters and brothers are very far down on the list, which proves that lines have been drawn by the government already and could be tightened even more.
1
...Aaaand the ball did not move even one yard. Democrats own this. Such an obvious blunder, over such a divisive issue, and so, so dumb.
Every time I think Trump is in over his head I see Chuck Schumer on TV. Boy, is he in the wrong job. He needs to go back to eating cheesecakes with Dorothy, Rose, Blanche, and Sophia.
2
No wonder republicans win elections many democrat senators are even stupider then republican voters.
Get rid of the losers and replace them with smart candidates. I know a few million candidates who marched recently in incredible numbers.
2
Grant the "dreamers" citizenship in exchange for..
1) full implementation of border wall
2) end to chain migration
3) 2 year sunset period for 14th amendment
We were told during the Reagan administration that we'd give the final illegal alien amnesty in the 1980s(!!!)
The dreamers should be the last straw. Not a single 1 should be granted citizenship w/o implementing other 3 policies. Enough is enough.
Democrats need new leaders. Schumer is a joke.
5
Mitch McConnell is a liar and a cheat. He flim-flammed Susan Collins with a false promise to get her vote on the disastrous tax bill. He will do the same here with DACA. Paul Ryan is even worse. For the sake of our nation we must vote these snakes out of office. They are destroying America piece by piece.
10
Et Tu, Chuck?
7
To all Senate Democrats:
Sherman to Grant after the first day of the Battle of Shiloh:
"Well, Grant, we've had the devil's own day, haven't we?"
Grant said "Yes," and his cigar glowed in the darkness as he gave a quick, hard puff at it, "Yes. Lick 'em tomorrow, though."
Get back and lick them all for the good of the Union and the Constitution...Godspeed
4
That’s funny. Democrats ignore the Constitution at alarming rates. The Iran Deal. Paris Accord DACA. Subsidies to health insurers without Congressional authorization. It’s kind of a joke. Except it’s the Constitution.
I really wanted to hate this and blame the Democrats for caving, but I actually think it's a decent deal. It puts CHIP in the bank for 6 years and only pushes the funding deadline 3 weeks. This removes CHIP re-authorization from the table and thus focuses squarely on DACA as the point of contention. If the intervening period produces nothing but Republican intransigence, Democrats must be willing to say NO again!
10
Didn't Donald Trump say in 2013 that a shutdown was evidence of a weak president that had no influence over his own party?
8
Many words flow from his mouth. None has any meaning at all.
1
What happened to, "you have my word, you can take it to the bank."
I guess the Congress marches to a different tune.
And not to be silly but is it not what the politicians ARE known for - "can't take his word."
The report while telling us about the Democrats insistence for the Majority Leader to be more forthcoming - was not clear what words helped.
Is it the "playing field" or "amendments" - as many of us interested in public policy know both are actually quite treacherous - for legislating.
Level playing field means allowing several bills to come to the floor. With complex parliamentary rules, a week cannot be enough.
Heck, it took them almost 6 plus months to consider competing repeal bills.
And if more or as many amendments as possible - we will witness vote a rama on steroid.
The Democrats may have gotten something that they wish they had not asked for.
In any event, the winter of discontent is coming.
Trump could have gotten his wall out of this. Schumer basically handed it to him Friday. Provided that the Dems treat the wall as a non-starter in upcoming negotiations, then I will see this as a loss for Trump.
It will be interesting to see how things play out over the next months (including the upcoming, perennial debt ceiling issue in March.)
2
There's no real reason for democrats to oppose the wall other than the fact that it's Trump's priority. Their opposition is irrational.
They will never win by trying to put people here illegally ahead of American voters' interests, and there is great interest in a newly secured border.
1
The Republicans should address the dreamers, but the Democrats should never have pushed the issue to the point of a shutdown once it became clear that this was not going to happen. The political fallout was always going to be a net gain for the republicans, which means they were never going to knuckle under to keep the government open. They still won’t regardless of any promise. The Republicans will address DACA when Democrats pay what the Republicans deem a sufficient political price. The threat of a shutdown was never going to provide the leverage needed to get it done. I’m a Democrat, but they played this one wrong.
7
I disagree. Trump set the March deadline for a solution to DACA and the ball is in the court of the Republicans now. Either they have no solution by March and Trump loses face, or they have one and either way they lose: Deport the Dreamers and get clobbered in the mid-terms and vilified internationally for betraying the trust of law-abiding and well-adapted Dreamers who came forward with their personal information in hopes of a path to citizenship but who now see this turned against them, or legalize DACA and get clobbered by Trump's base.
The Democrats do not control Congress and can't introduce bills. The only way to get DACA to the Senate floor is exactly the way it was done here: Use your only leverage, the filibuster, to extract that commitment from McConnell on a critical vote. There will be other CRs with which to punish McConnell should he renege on his commitment. Fortunately, those CRs won't include the CHIP poison pill included in last week's CR because it was funded for six years in today's resolution.
I don't see this as a loss, and I believe it was played as well as it could be by the Democrats, who have very little leverage. The shutdown was short and unlikely to have an impact on the midterms. Whether a DACA bill, which undoubtedly will contain several immigration-related poison pills for the Democrats, will pass is unknown. But then again the Democrats who voted against Hillary in 2016 should have known there would be consequences for their failure to support the Democrat nominee.
2
The GOP has addressed the Dreamers fate by rescinding DACA. I can’t see them having a change of heart next month. It wouldn’t appeal to many of their base.
2
DACA was never passed by Congress. It conferred rights on non-citizens without congressional approval. It was disgustingly unconstitutional.
2
I'm a moderate Democrat, and I think the Democrats threaded a difficult needle well here.
Pushing the shutdown any further was bound to boomerang eventually and potentially threaten most of the Democrats in the midterm elections. And the shutdown accomplished its goal by forcing McConnell to bring DACA, and no doubt other immigration policies, to the Senate floor, which is something that hasn't happened in years.
It's my understanding the Democrats won't be able to use the threat of a filibuster against any of the budgetary appropriation bills that are bound to come soon. If that's true, we're sunk.
3
Reconciliation bills and three week funding mechanisms are not how a country's budget should be developed. The country needs Congress to complete a clean budget annually (or longer) without all the shenanigans.
Over the past 20 years the budget process has devolved into a "negotiating in bad faith" exercise as a way to simple bully the "other party" toward getting what you want. How can we ever get back to a position of trust when it comes to negotiating budgets to run our government?
It's about time the Democrats start publishing ads that call out the lies and how those lies affect "every day citizens."
Instead, the Democrats continue to show up to a gun-fight with small pocket knives.
6
As a Democrat leaning person, I firmly believe the party needs really tough people to protect the weak from the tough Republicans. Style won't get the job done.
5
One of these days Democratic Leadership might wake up and realize they are in a war. No one likes collateral damage, but you can't defeat an occupying force when you are more concerned that someone you care about could get hurt in the process. You took a stand and then backed down because of promises, from McConnell and Ryan!? You may have taken some blame for the shutdown, but the Republicans own the victory. As sad as it is, the only thing I am sure of is that there is still no reason for me to vote next election. The country slowly inches forward in the direction it needs to go or I get a tax break as we kick the can down the road. I don't have kids so either way I "win."
3
Chris, the reason we're in the situation we are now is that people like you didn't vote for the Democrat in November 2016. Candidates are never perfect and politics too often requires sacrifice of the ideal. But one thing is certain, elections have consequences and trump is one of them.
2
Democrats must learn to be smarter. Those responsible for ending a dictatorship must be extra-shrewd, not shrink away from a lost battle of their choosing and say, "at least we tried to do the right thing." You don't win by being on the side of the angels and showing the world that you are good people. You win by winning.
5
You win by voting. Which didn't happen in 2010, 2014, and 2016. It is profoundly galling to see some of the same people who sat home then, marching now.
4
are you saying after 1 year of DT it's a dictatorship? unlike a past prez who just signed presidential edicts?
1
Chuck caves while Trump, at the expense of taxpayers, runs disgusting ads over the weekend about Democrats. Meanwhile, the government reopens with another CR in place as Senate Republicans agree to discuss DACA in a few weeks with assurances of a bipartisan fix for the dreamers, correct? Don't bet the farm on that one.
In three weeks, Republicans will offer more excuses to not touch immigration at that time and will again force the Democrats' hand. Trump will run more ads denigrating them - and the beat will go on!
When will this dysfunction stop?
5
chuck never should have shut the gov't down in the 1st place. should have taken the high road but he sunk even below trumps level. and thats.the best we have? we are pathetic
Republicans are already on TV making clear there will be no DACA bill unless it is tied to other issues that will be totally unacceptable to Democrats. And they are talking “amnesty,” not citizenship. Dreamers will never be citizens.
2
Why should reforming a "diversity lottery" system and a policy of chain migration be "totally unacceptable"? Why do liberals want to make those (flawed) policies the hill they'll die on? If you pressed many Americans, especially the Rust Belt Dems who voted for Trump, on those issues, they'd probably be a lot more willing to change them than some here think.
because they came here illegally. do we forget that? we tend to talk about Mexican immigrants, i grew up in the bronx. you have no idea how many illegal irish are under the radar. wait till you add their numbers in. then koreans...
They won't be citizens until Democrats take control of Congress. Get out there and vote in the midterms!!!
1
What if a petulant Trump does not sign it? Ha! I would love to see Sen. Mitch McConnell's picture then. Or what if the devious Republicans decide on short shrifting Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, Children's Health Insurance. The Democrats should have a long list for long term for Feb.8.
Otherwise the Republicans would just throw them a bone. I expect some great strategy and growing a spine because our country is in dire straits when government funding is month to month, just like my meager paycheck from month to month.
1
If the Democrats want to look as weak and directionless as possible, they are doing an excellent job of it.
4
unfortunately, because they are. which is why I thank my lucky stars they are not in complete charge
The Democrats have no real leverage until they take back one or both houses of Congress. They can filibuster, but with a vote of 60 cloture will shut them up. Go out and vote for Democrats in 2018.
1
The Republicans have nothing to lose by a shut down, the next election outlook is not good for them. But trust, please. Six years of children healthcare is something.
2
At least Democrats have shown that they must have a seat at the table by reminding the President and House that their votes are indeed required to pass important legislation. Congress needs to be passing budgets and legislation through the regular order committee process. While no party would be gettin 100% of what they wanted, I'm pretty sure if they followed regular order where Republicans majority still chairs all the committees but Democrats have a say and all can submit amendments for consideration, they would be passing powerful, noncontroversial policies with 70-80% majorities similar to the cloture vote today.
2
Let's be real clear: Chuck and Dick Durbin want to control the Senate next year. Cant do it if the Dems are perceived as playing the losing hand in this shutdown standoff. The goal is to block every judicial nominee submitted by Trump and allow Ruth to finally retire without having to worry about a stacked SC in favor of the right wing. This is the strategy, like it or not.
Progressives have to get behind this plan and make sure that the senate goes blue; otherwise, this maneuver by chuck and dick will rank the same as the goal line play called by Pete Carroll in that Super Bowl two years ago.
3
So if trump believes he gets the wall funded because Schumer gives in, who's REALLY paying for it? Taxpayers! And without a debate as to whether this expense is really necessary, Trump releases the Dreamer hostages for billions that Mexico was supposed to pay for in the first place!
Bottom line; Trump and Republicans poor businessmen terrorizing and extorting decent Americans.
2
Thankfully the congressman elected by the American people to represent the people, finally has allowed the United States government to function again. That they would hold us all hostage, for the sake of an issue about non-citizens, is completely absurd. DACA is not a budget issue, and should be handled separately. US citizens should be aghast at Schumer's shameless headline grabbing malpractice.
5
Except Joe it wasn't all about DACA..it was about hurricane relief for heavily impacted states..Puerto Rico and several other extremely important items the media has chosen to basically ignore for DACA and CHIP. Don't fall for the Republicans and their diversionary tactics.
1
Dan, we did not benefit anyone by shutting down the government of the United States of America. Shame on Schumer and Warren
1
I am about as liberal as you can get but I am getting tired of constantly seeing Chuck Shumer.
Like Trump, I would like them both to shut up and get to work and stop the continual grandstanding.
6
Now is not the time to talk about DACA.
5
And the same dreary sequel will happen in three weeks.
2
Neville Schumer continued;
I have met with Chancellor McConnell.
Based upon his agreement
We heard his words
We will have DACA in our time.....
3
A number of folks are writing off both Schumer and democrats as the losers here.
Not so fast. I don't believe the final act has yet to be played out. I'm staying tuned.
4
The ship of state was foundering this week, and the powers that be on all decks decided to lighten the load by throwing 800,000 DACA and Dreamers and sick little children into the night ocean. I wanted them to throw the billionaires, but that crowd had paid off the captain.
1
Someone needs to have the guts to tell Trump, Miller, and McConnell, "Melania lacked documentation when she came to this country." Trump claimed she had plenty of documentation, but has never produced it. His empty promise to produce the documentation on Melania is the same as his false claims that he had people in Hawaii finding interesting things on Obama's birth certificate.
He just makes things up out of thin air and no one tells him, "If you can't prove it, shut up."
2
This is clearly a big political win for President Trump.
Trump is a master of messaging -- "democrats sacrificed American citizens in their fight for illegal immigrants" -- that all but ensured a no-win situation for his opponents even before the fight began.
And he continues to think ahead of Congress. While Schumer was sheepishly beaming over his cave in, Trump today met with Manchin and Jones -- the two of the five Democrats who voted for the spending bill -- to discuss immigration.
While some saw his White House photo over the weekend watching TV and Obama playbook, he was probably conceiving his next messaging -- how to paint the Democrats for the next Feb. 8 shutdown? how to make DACA people believe that he is their best chance, and not the democrats? how to dovetail this win for his 2020?
Still wondering why America elected Trump?
3
The next steps that will be taken by GOP will be:
1) Moving to a simple majority for passing budgets.
2) Deporting ALL DACA aliens.
When you cave to a bully, this is what will happen.
1
If I'm not mistaken, I think budgets can be passed by a simple majority. I don't believe you can filibuster a budget bill.
If DACAs are deported, the blame is not on Schumer but on all those millennials and other liberals who didn't vote for Hillary because she was not Bernie. Elections have consequences, and the stabile genius is one of them.
1
"...coupled with a promise from Mr. McConnell to allow a vote on a measure to protect the Dreamers from deportation."
Why would you take the word of an evil man like this? It's insane.
1
Dear Mr President, please send out a to do list, you know DACA, chain migration and CHIP. Please include the total cost of the wall, so the Dems would know who is really in charge. Please do not show your tweet with Stephen Miller or John Kelly
1
I remain stunned at the remarkable political wisdom and strategery of so many lefties who've barely lifted a finger to so much as vote, and yet somehow are far, far more knowledgeable and courageous than a mere career politician such as Chuck Schumer.
But then, I remain gabblefarsted at the depth of right-wing knowledge about things that never happened, not to mention the Right's uncanny ability to predict what will happen wix months from now.
Must be magic.
My point, though, is this: when I see some of this stuff, I reflect that maybe it's time voters started giving some thought to the notion that. Aybe THEY are letting CINGRESS, and ghe COUNTRY, down.
4
Now they can gather at their exclusive DC restaurants and have Champagne with their prime rib and celebrate funding the government for 3 weeks.
This was the best the Dems could do, and it's not terrible. They have unstuck themselves from the GOP's immigration tar baby. If the GOP reneges or if when DACA comes to a vote they vote it down, then the GOP stands out like a reprehensible firing squad and will not escape voter disgust.
4
Wear a wire or get it in writing. I wouldn't trust Mitch McC as far as...well, you know the rest.
Trust Mitch McConnell? Ask Susan Collins.
3
Ending the government shutdown was a good move of course, but Trump's continuous attacks on everybody that points out his stupidity is unrelenting. Trump's petty and malicious stand, and inability to realize how dumb it is to attack the 'Dreamers' as unwanted immigrants intent in harming America, will not stand scrutiny. And the hardliners Miller, Kelly, Cotton, etc are on the wrong side of history. Trump, faithful to his utter incompetence, falls prey to cruel and unscrupulous thugs telling him what to do. This is what must be called by it's name, an institutionalized violence, a clear abuse of power. Democrats, as long as they try to uphold the rule of law, are going to be O.K.; wish Trump would do us a big favor...and shut up!
3
The budget for fiscal year 2019 is due on October 1, a month before the elections. I wonder how that will work out.
3
One thing that could help reduce the budget deficits would be to apply the Cadillac healthcare tax to Congress and its staffers. Not likely, of course, given that Congress pays itself during a shutdown when other federal employees go unpaid.
8
It is eminently reasonable to insist on effective boarder security as a condition permitting illegal aliens to stay in this country.
No reason to play Russian roulette with a visa lottery.
If a family wants to immigrate then all should apply and all be counted towards the quota enacted by Congress -- chain migration is immigration without a policy.
This is not 1900. The demand for labor is diminishing every day and ZPG is a sustainable policy that meets the demands of the left whether they know it or not.
Visa issuance should require bond to be paid. Bond to cover money to pay bounty hunter if overstay, and must reduce future visas proportionately to those that have been violated.
Enforce immigration, not a hard line idea. Unlimited, unrestricted, open borders is the radical lunacy of the left.
14
The demand for labor is in fact increasing every day. Many parts of the nation now have a labor shortage. Kicking 800k DACA kids, most with college degrees, out of the country is just plain stupid.
1
You miss the point, unless you advocate unrestricted open borders.
No, Tom. He got one of your many points and blew it out of the water.
1
Despite the warm gauze that Democrats and many posters here are trying to wrap around this, the only reasonable view is that Mr. Schumer got rolled.
It was his own doing, as he painted himself, or the party made him paint himself, into a corner. Holding up the government for DACA, which was rapidly becoming known as the "Schumer Shutdown" or the "Amnesty Shutdown", is not smart electoral strategy.
Objectively, all the Democrats did was scream and shout for three days and then give in. Even DACA beneficiaries are not going to think they achieved anything.
The Democrats might as well internalize this:
1. There will be a solution to DACA but no path citizenship for them. (Not all that bad, permanent residency achieves 99% of their goals – except a vote.)
2. The solution will include robust funding for the wall (no Orwellian Schumerian "down-payment"), an end to chain migration, and an end to the lottery.
People say that Mr. Trump can’t be trusted. But that’s not entirely accurate. It is that Mr. Trump will never be rolled or outmaneuvered. If it seems like he is about to be outsmarted (say by folks like Graham and Flake), he will change his mind and renege on any promise he may have made, even to the point of vetoing legislation that he said he would sign.
President Trump’s signature issue was illegal immigration – all the rest (trade, wall, etc.) was built around that. He is not now going to soil his own nest. This ought to be clear to everyone.
11
To see Mr. Trump in such a light, you must have once warm gauze over your eyes.
To Dems:
Standing for things one at a time, even if they are good things, just won't cut it, won't inspire, won't rally support. You need to figure out what you stand for and put forward a coherent set of beliefs. "Resist" is necessary, but not enough.
Oprah is a good person, but her candidacy is another way to avoid the painful self reflection and consensus-building.
By now, it's cliche' but Bernie had the right idea--pretty much a one-note musician, but one very very important note. Everyone, on both sides, knew what was important and what he stood for. The Dems have a long way to go.
3
The end of the filibuster is not the best thing for the Democratic position on immigration, but not the worst - they'll get another chance a few weeks down the road if McConnell doesn't bring it up for debate. Best thing McConnell could do if to stop looking to the White House for direction, as our Ditherer-In-Chief has precious little to provide on this most important matter.
2
There was no bi-partisan agreement. The Democrats caved. Too bad for them. I am very disappointed in the outcome of this situation.
The Republican's war on decency, honor, ethics, tolerance, and inclusion has forever tainted the United States in the eyes of her citizens and the world.
3
And us!
I feel bad for children brought here illegally, but America isn’t to blame for their predicament. Their parents are to blame and their country of origin is to blame for creating the conditions that caused their parents to flee. I’m not suggesting we shouldn’t try to accommodate them, but we shouldn’t be shutting down our government over them. I think most Americans would agree with that. The Democrats are going to take the blame for any shutdown related to DACA, so there is no deal and there won’t be another government shutdown over this or the Dems will pay the price in November.
10
No you don't.
1
Forget the blame game already! Where do we go from here?
1
I have a bad feeling about this. Why did the Democrat leadership believe the G.O.P. would change and agree to immigration? No doubt it is simply a "Delay" tactic.
2
Patrick, you usually make such cogent remarks, but this time I feel you're missing the point.
The Democrats can't force a successful resolution of the DACA question on the majority party because they're in the minority. Now that they know that the administration is too unstable to trust, the most they can do is to get McConnell to bring DACA and immigration reform to the Senate floor where they might be able to horse trade a deal. At the end of the day the Republicans might require them to eat too many poison pills to pass a bill, or just as likely the House may refuse to entertain the bill, which they can do under current rules.
The sad fact is that we're in this situation because a whole bunch of die-hard Bernie supporters and party purists rejected Hillary, and as a result she lost three electoral states by very small margins. I just hope this same group doesn't sabotage us again.
1
I am glad of this but still disgusted over how the executive branch played this. Pence used a visit to the troops to POLITICIZE the military with remarks about the shutdown. Sanders made grossly inappropriate comments about both Senator Schumer and Democrats in general. The Trump Re-election Campaign ran a disgusting commercial that equated Democrats and Dreamers with murderers and the Whitehouse answering machine had a juvenille message blaming Democrats for the shutdown. The level of viciousness in this administration knows no bounds, and it comes from the very top.
19
Dem 'leadership?' There is none. I feel so let down, and totally adrift in this hellscape that now passes for America and democracy.
Realize it can't just, or always, be politics as 'against anything Trump' ... but hey, two lousy days??? Weekend days at that? Why give DJT ANYthing going into SOTU? Seems more could have been gained by letting him sweat that.
I just feel played, and toyed with, by both sides.
9
Good,
2
Jazz one, I was young once and supported anti-Vietnam-War candidate Eugene McCarthy in the 1968 presidential primary which was eventually won by Hubert Humphrey. I hated Humphrey because from my point of view, he was a centrist Democrat and a Vice President under Johnson, who greatly expanded our involvement in Viet Nam after Kennedy's assassination. Foolishly, I sat out the Nixon-Humphrey presidential election and Nixon won. We all know how well that went.
I beg you not to feel played. Politics is a long-term game won by patience, discipline and determination. Trust me, there is a strategy here. The Democrats have a poor hand to play because they have control of none of the political branches. Shutting down the government for any longer would have alienated many potential Democrat supporters in November's midterms and yielded nothing for them in return. As the revered leftwing political pundit Ezra Klein said on the Lawrence O'Donnell MSNBC show last night, in a government shutdown positions grow harder as time wears on and it's rare that anything is gained. With this shutdown, Schumer at least got a PUBLIC declaration from McConnell that he will allow an immigration bill to proceed to the floor. That's much more than the Democrats had on Friday.
1
I'm not sick of winning yet President Trump, keep it up!
12
Attention ideological purists: Pledge to stay home next election day! That'll show 'em!
7
We'll know a lot more Feb. 8.
1
Now we have to wait a week for him to read it. Dems! DO NOT COMPROMISE!
1
Republicans will never give a pathway to citizenship and the right to vote to any illegal immigrant. They are already a minority party, and it would be their death knell. Their promises aren’t worth anything.
7
Shutdowns of the government are stupid, a really bad idea. I was disappointed to see the Democrats using it even for a little while. It is time to just get the needed votes to make change and do the job the usual way.
I do think that getting a vote on DACA to the floor was a decent outcome, but I am not sure it will get immigration freformed in any decent way. It will take more Dems in office to do that.
Thank goodness for the end of the shutdown. Let's get on with governing, no matter how much we may hate the guys currently in charge and their cheating ways.
6
From smh.com.au (some text removed):
The United States government has shut down, at least in part, again. Many onlookers are eagerly blaming President Donald Trump.
They are wrong to do so, and not only because this week's crisis is more the fruit of partisan gamesmanship in Washington than of Mr Trump's chaotic leadership. The shutdown is a sign of chronic dysfunction in American politics and society. Its roots are far deeper than the stalled negotiations between Republicans and Democrats over illegal immigrants, healthcare and fiscal policies
...
US federal administrations have shut down 19 times. The reasons were widespread, and sometimes even trivial, ranging from serious differences over military spending to one side of politics simply wanting more time. Perennial battlefronts have included abortion laws and tax cuts for the rich.
A government shutdown should be regarded as a shameful failure of executive and parliamentary leadership. Yet in the US it has become a tactic. Services stop, public facilities and offices close, hundreds of thousands of public servants and soldiers go unpaid – and, somehow, this is acceptable.
Dysfunctional government, economic stagnation, military overreach and a fraying body politic are classic signs of unravelling empires. The US has all four.
... America's relative economic power has decreased and its citizens' median income has fallen. Its once-great strength, manufacturing, has been ceded to Asia and even Europe.
10
Selling us out is what corporate, DNC Democrats do. We, the people that use to vote for them are tired of it.
It's time we start sheltering immigrants the way some sheltered Jews in the '30s and '40's.
14
To be perfectly honest, in time this will all be dwarfed by the blue wave coming, especially after Mueller's soon-to-be-released blockbuster findings.
11
Be very careful of this kind of conventional thinking. It is how Trump won last time.
As for Mueller's investigation, you do realize he has only found guilt related to the kinds of shenanigans that occur among lobbyists all the time? Nothing really big with respect to the alleged collusion.
1
Whatever the Republicans are going to do about DACA,now or in February, they were going to do regardless of any actions Democrats might have taken. That is the lesson of this shutdown. But now, Republicans will own what happens next. Democrats may have not succeeded with the shutdown, it's true. But they have raised the visibility and urgency of preserving DACA, an issue about which of 80% of the electorate is supportive. They do not look weak for doing so. Nor do they look heartless, or ideologically rigid, or dishonest by capitulating. They look like responsible legislators who know they an come back in three weeks, and then the onus will be on McConnell, Trump, and Ryan. In the meantime, there are plenty of ways to further ratchet up the pressure.
5
" But they have raised the visibility and urgency of preserving DACA, an issue about which of 80% of the electorate is supportive. " Um, 56% of the people -
and in a CNN poll at that - said that keeping the Government open is more important than these so-called "dreamers",
1
Which is why shutting down the shutdown quickly was the wisest thing to do. It was actually causing a loss of support for the Dreamers.
And by the way, the group that pushed this shutdown and still do is the extreme leftwing of the Democrat party. They will be the death of us.
1
One year ago, in left leaning circles, it was a certainty that President Trump was never going to make progress on immigration.
Today his main immigration goals of a border wall, increased enforcement, ending chain migration, and merit based immigration have not only been acknowledged by congress as being part of the discussion but essential topics for legislation going forward.
If this is what failure looks like I will gladly take that over how the Democrats won the government shutdown.
In spite of all the sputtering invective hurled at President Trump over the past 18 months he is making progress on his agenda.
MAGA.
9
If it were any other administration, I would suggest that we were about ready to find out what their words were worth. Unfortunately, we already know that answer to that question.
Perhaps Sen. Schumer does know what he's doing in showing that he's willing to negotiate in good faith but I cannot imagine the pain and distress of being a Dreamer as our representatives play with their futures. We are no longer a country that I feel I can take pride in (perhaps we never were). We don't deserve the dreamers.
2
Democracy is fragile. Our legislators are a testament to that fact. Our founding fathers sought a more equal union. That is something we do not have today. May this ugly weekend wake up all true Americans of the need to fight our differences in search of the greater good for all. God bless this nation.....please.
2
From down here this whole shutdown thing is funny. The other funny thing is your elected President brags regularly that he won the election but is controlled not counselled by unelected officials on a few important issues. Imagine that you had Trump in 2009 doing this sort yes, sir no, sir stuff during the financial crisis.
5
Schumer is barely competent, but he was right to cave on this point. It was hurting us for the mid-terms.
5
I disagree. Schumer is a very shrewd parliamentary tactician and strategist, although he's a lousy public speaker and not one who will galvanize the base. I hope Tom Perez is up to the job, but I doubt it. I had hoped Howard Dean would assume the party leadership again, but he lost to Perez.
1
Politicians, who hv always played with opm, are not a match with anyone who has played hardball with their own money. The Democrats need a real leader who comes from the private commercial sector who understands how to get things done.
2
"Politicians, who hv always played with opm, are not a match with anyone who has played hardball with their own money."
Now there's an insight, Amiet. The truth is they are no match for Trump. While they're complaining about his words and tweets, trying to score political points he's barreling ahead like a tank.
"In addition to keeping the government operating until Feb. 8, the bill would extend the popular Children’s Health Insurance Program for another six years."
Good job, Dems!
5
30% chance Trump won't sign it. If not what reason will he give?
Politically, this “compromise” by Democrats was ill conceived and poorly executed. Schumer was clearly played by McConnell. There was no there there. Schumer could not articulate a message so the label “Schumer Shutdown” will stick as will “caved”. The Republicans pounded the cable networks with a consistent message, side skirting the DACA issue by appearing strong on defense, border security, and completely robbed the CHIP issue from the Democrats. I’m a life long Democrat and feel betrayed and embarrassed by an anachronistic leadership in the Senate and the House. If this is the best team we can field, we are destined to lose in the 2018 elections. Shameful abandonment of DACA cannot be resuscitated by a hollow McConnell promise. We were played. Travesty!
8
Well, the headlines say it all: Dems blinked; Dems come to their senses...etc.
What a sorry spectacle for Democrats!
5
Why is Senator Shumer smiling in the image attached to the article. Neither he nor any senatorial leader should be smiling. They agreed to keep the government running...nothing more. If the government does not run, do the senators get paid or are they given unpaid time off as well. A confederacy of dunces!
6
The Democrats find themselves in a very precarious situation. As a candidate, the new President boasted that he could fix the economy and he did in 1 year. Many mainstream media and Hollywood sexual assaulters are being named, illegal immigration is down by 70%, tax reform worked, African American unemployment at a 17 year low, Women's unemployment also at record lows, DACA is next. Government is actually working for the people and it's driving liberals crazy. They can't partake, rejoice or take pleasure in the roaring economy or good times they can only hate.
14
Exactly! Hate and call the rest of us racists, where "racist" is defined as "one who supports enforcing immigration laws".
4
I put my money on Trump delivering on immigration, and that includes a deal for dreamers. Before Obama was no match for the Senate. Now, its members are no match for Trump.
1
“[McConnell] made this commitment publicly in the Senate floor. He was much more specific than he was last night. And frankly I think this is an important opportunity for him to demonstrate that he will carry through.” Sen. King (I-Maine), quoted by Ms Stolberg. How about some reporting: WHAT DID McCONNELL SAY on the record -- that he would bring an "immigration" bill to the floor for debate, or that he would bring a clean *DACA* bill to the floor and allow a vote (without tying it to $6billion for the stupid wall, or an end to family-reunification visas, or harsher and harsher indefinite detentions of putative refugees, or . . .)? If the former, deep shame on the majority of Dem senators who caved without getting anything meaningful.
2
The Democrats can't bring anything to the floor by themselves, McConnell has seen to that, and beggars can't be choosers. The normal legislative process is what they were promised and that means they'll have to horse-trade to a deal. If the Republicans ultimately reject it, those are the breaks. We lost the 2016 election, and those who didn't vote for Hillary are to blame for all of this. If the leftwing of the Democrat party wants to riot in the streets over DACA, then let them do it. But our senators can't.
1
I will never understand why Schumer did this. It makes no sense at all.
5
Maybe we should shut down the government every weekend until the deficit is zero? But anyway, 81 to 18 to turn the government back on. Could you imagine voting so whimsically on a Friday to close the United States for no reason and then coming in on Monday to change your mistake. These guys and gals are not thinking about their votes when they cast them. They do what they are told by Schumer. Think people, because now Dems look more like sheep than politicians. Seriously, if you want to fight Trump you have to plan out your attack. Stop reacting.
6
So we get to deal with this nonsense again in a few weeks? How is this a victory?
1
CHIP is settled and off the table, and McConnell made a public commitment to settling DACA.
2
Well, I think the Democrats had to come to some agreement, but frankly I do not trust Mitch McConnell at all. At least he is on record on the Senate floor making a commitment on DACA. But I also think they will make outrageous demands to pass a DACA solution, and then try to blame the Democrats for it not passing when they balk. We shall see - but I think the atmosphere is so poisoned by the machinations of McConnell and Trump that there is little chance in big things getting done. You can tell by Trump's supporters running an advertisement saying if immigration reform isn't passed according to what hard liners want, then Democrats are complicit in murder if an undocumented person commits such a crime. These kind of statements and advertisements are really slanderous, but then given all the things these people said about President Obama I am hardly surprised.
5
Cite one thing that was said about Obama.
1
I can cite from a Trump site with my own sight Birtherism did I see
The Dems should have known by now that McConnell, Ryan and Trump can NOT be trusted.
We will have to go through this again - no firm yearly budgets, constant upsets and wasting of our tax $, much of which will go to unnecessary walls and into the pockets of the very wealthy who rule our government, and finding out once more than trickle-down doesn't work.
No joy. And meanwhile we pay for Trump to only spend 2/3s of his time in D.C. (and another few hours daily tweeting junk).
This is how the world's used to be leading republic acts now? Not impressive.
3
Wow,you must think the president has no communications when he leaves the White House.
1
Is it just me or does the legion of commenters dumping on the Dems for voting to end the impasse include a lot of names that are not familiar and that don't usually post on this forum? That's a problem with an open forum - it is subject to underhanded manipulation by professional "opinion shapers". Fortunately, they are not difficult to spot - obviously copying from a prepared text dreamed up by a highly paid "consultant". Actually, the vote by the Democrates showed maturity and common sense and if the Republican Senate leader doesn't live up to his words, the world is watching.
5
Trump called their bluff, and they choked. Maturity and common sense have nothing to do with it or the Dems would not have gone down this road to begin with only to come up with nothing at the end. BTW, I am a regular in these blogs and nobody's paid shill.
I know you're a regular, ed, and I enjoy your posts, but I disagree with you on this one.
I don't believe they choked. I believe they got three things of value for hopefully only some temporary pain: a public commitment that an immigration bill, including DACA, would be allowed to proceed to the Senate floor; a shortened timeframe for the CR, which is necessary given the March 5th DACA deadline: and passage of CHIP funding for six years, removing at least one of the Republican poison pill gimmicks.
Schumer certainly new that a prolonged shutdown would hurt the Democrats in November. And I believe he was pushed into the shutdown in the first place by two external forces: the far leftwing of the party, 16 of whom still wanted to continue the shutdown today; and the total unreliability of any promise made by this administration, which was finally proven to him on Friday.
His only hope, short of a Charles the First parliamentary coup, was to get this matter to the Senate floor, which I believe he's done. A clean DACA bill was never in the cards, which was amply proven at the WH meeting a couple of weeks ago when Feinstein asked for a clean bill and trump was about to agree to one until McCarthy managed to get him back on course.
The Democrats have a very poor hand to play, but I think Schumer played it very well.
1
So when McConnell comes back in 3 weeks with DACA legislation, except this time it will include cuts to Social Security and Medicare, what will Schumer and Pelosi do then? I'm sick of the spineless Democratic Party.
2
The bill should have included language that states if McConnell does not bring a clean DACA legislation to a full floor vote before the next deadline that all DACA participants get citizenship.
Then it would actually get on the calendar. As of now McConnell and the Republicans will not keep their word. Completely corrupt.
2
Define “clean” DACA bill. You know there are more than 800,000, right? Why don’t Dems ever mention the millions that are no longer children.
1
The number is 700,000, I believe.
1
What happens to Obamacare premium subsidies when that "handful" of ACA taxes is eliminated? Does anybody care about the millions who can only afford health insurance if their premiums are subsidized? Can I get some information from the "free press"?
2
Did you care about the millions who were just above the subsidy level and were devastated by Obamacare?
1
I support Medicare for All so that insurance is affordable for all. Do you?
Why is it an acceptable strategy to link immigration to this spending bill and precipitate a government close-down? Why weren't the Dreamers' status resolved under the Obama administration? Just asking.
3
Obama couldn't negotiate his way out of a paper bag. He was a great talker, essentially a salesman, who needed a tough team of democrats to do the heavy lifting. When he lost his majority it was all over for him.
AACNY: Substitute the words "Trump" for "Obama" and "republicans" for "democrats" and your first two sentences describe our stabile genius to a T.
1
This is why I am permanently done with the Democrats. I'm sure many join me. All there is now is watching these Democrats and Republicans destroy our country.
And waiting for the revolution.
3
Democrats stand between us and Republican fascism. Maybe you think the Greens or the Libertarians could win in November.
1
The Dems have just showed us it doesn't matter who wins in November. Neither main party cares about the majority of Americans. Most of them only care about remaining in office (placing them well above most Americans).
Fascism or The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight. I don't see either as a win.
Christopher: I spoke with scores of people like you in the lead up to election day in 2016. I could be wrong, but I suspect you didn't vote for Hillary, and I know for a fact that those scores of Bernie-or-Bust supporters I spoke with didn't. And that's why we have trump today.
Do you REALLY think that a Hillary administration would have been as bad as this one? I mean really, truly, deep in your heart of heart? Politics is not a perfect endeavor. One never gets all that one wants. But incremental changes make a tremendous difference over time, and lesser and greater shades of evil exist.
If Hillary were in office today, DACA would be safe; there would be no $1.5 trillion tax cuts for the wealthy; the ACA would be safe and sufficiently funded; environmental regulations would be as strong as they were when Obama left office; the Dodd-Frank banking regulations would not be in jeopardy, etc. etc. etc.
We need all liberals and progressives to vote Democrat in the midterms to give Democrats, the only viable liberal party with a chance of turning Congress, a tsunami of victories.
1
"I'll take the heat.", which looked good on television, is obviously already dead. I will predict DACA is likely to die with it and Trump will repeat ad nauseum how the Democrats wanted to take care of a bunch of illegal criminals instead of our great Military, and border security and his donor base. Mitch McConnell will not make it any easier. He didn't become Senate Majority Leader from keeping his promises to Democrats. Too late now, we took the bait and swallowed the hook.
I hope I am wrong on both points but fully expect The Art of the Deal to turn into Let's Make a Deal, and when the curtain parts on the only door we have left, it will be the humiliated owners of a goat and half a bale of hay.
None of the Republicans in Government can be trusted to keep their word. Three weeks from now when it comes time to negotiate a long-term budget deal Deportation of DACA participants will be under way and the Republican leadership will still be holding the rest of DACA participants hostage. Trump and his administration will still be promoting hate filled, racist anti-immigrant propaganda.
2
The blame should go to whichever side is acting well beyond any leverage it actually has.
Looking back, I find it interesting that when Republicans deliberately orchestrated a government shutdown under President Obama, Democrats including Obama, had no problem and were laser focused in singling out the GOP's fiscally conservative base, even suggesting the hard right of the party were disloyal hostage takers, even terrorists in a couple of instances.
Now, with the shoe on the other foot, the Democratic leaders played to their progressive hard left base insisting they are too pure of heart and motive to succumb to similar political pandering’s of government shutdowns past.
I think it's safe to say this is the stupidest government shutdown ever. Are there any questions as to why Independents are fastest growing political group? I am still attempting to figure out at what point did both parties pay more attention to their more moderate middle.
3
Every time Republicans plumb new depths of treason and moral depravity, I resolve to vote for Democrats, no matter how little I respect them as individual politicians.
However, inevitably the Democrats prove themselves too cowardly to be worth the trouble to vote. What good are Democrats who heel to Republicans like poodles at dog shows?
For the sake of my own sanity, I must write off America as a lost cause and focus my efforts on finding a new country where my descendents can live in a civilized democracy.
4
The path to immigration reform is through a majority of the House. Even now, there is little assurance that a strident, Republican House will adopt anything the Senate passes on immigration though McConnell's promises. This result begs the question as to how and why Democratic leadership did a "Cruz" and hitched a losing condition to government funding.
The end result of this charade is failure, embarrassment and near political suicide in advance of what was a promising change over in the 2018 House elections. Worse, it has all the earmarks of grandstanding by the so called "progressives", Gillibrand, Warren, Harris and Sanders, whose presidential conceits exceed their collective common sense.
Worse yet, the introduction of internal dysfunction that has mocked the Republicans, has now infected the Democrats at the most inopportune time, especially under lackluster leadership and no pretenders to the presidency worth following for lack of political acumen.
It is painfully obvious that McConnell knew whatever he agreed to with respect to DACA or Dreamers could never pass the House, and so gave away nothing, which is what Schumer got.
To repeat this meaningless, mind boggling stupidity three weeks form now invites the comparison to turkeys in the rain.
2
Schumer and the Democrats are worthless. They could have won a clean Dream Act but settled for a hollow promise to “continue talks.” The shutdown created a powerful incentive for the Republicans to compromise and pass a popular piece of legislation. Without the shutdown, the incentive is gone. The Democrats posture as progressives, but their real loyalties are the same as the Republicans — to Wall Street and the 1%. We need a genuine socialist party in this country that will stand up for poor and working class people, for all women, immigrants, and people of color, and not just the professional managerial strata the Democrats cater to.
I'm still wondering why all of these folks have lots of time for posturing and finger pointing, when they could have been passing legislation. CHIP should have been funded months ago, so no kudos for the GOP there. DACA would not have been such a pressing issue if Trump hadn't taken the moves he did.
From my perspective this was a crisis created by the GOP. Their statements regarding why the Democrats took the path they did, and to try to blame the opposition were as weak and misleading as ever. Why is it that the GOP has to sell lies in order to stay in power and why is it that so many who vote for them have never been much past the end of their driveway, or much past the 12th grade. There aren't that many 1% folks out there. They could buy all the false advertising in the world and it would not sway a thinking, educated person, unless that person was under the distinct impression that they are the only person in the world, and that what happens to everyone else around them is immaterial. There are those, but I think you can cure stupid before you can cure just plain mean.
Hopefully we can do more to cure stupid, and stop getting into these man-made messes. Heart and Smart can overcome mean and selfish. There are more good people than bad, and most of us know we are not islands.
4
Isn't unfortutunate, or par for the cor course? As the US shutdowns for the very 1st time when the goverment held by all three branches has done such. EVER. One cannot (I) help but imagine the president curled up under his blanket, complemtletly overwhelhemed. Yes, we have no leader. Is it time to prop hip him up, or take the next the next step? I, shall let you good reader & nation, decide. Dig deep, this is now our reality.
Esau sold his birthright for a "mess of pottage."
The Senate Democrats agreed to end the shut down in return for a "PROMISE" to negotiate?
Don't look now, folks but McConnell and the GOP Mob has not delivered four-square on one of their promises in the modern era. These are reptiles who lie to the troops about their pay being affected (Pence) by the shutdown after rejecting a Democratic offer of special legislation (McConnell); prostitute the tax-payer funded WH Hotline to deliver a partisan message that certainly violates the intent of the Hatch Act; calls the exercise of their vote on the Senate floor an act of murder of citizens by immigrants (S-H-Sanders). Let's not forget Merrick Garland as evidence of their commitment to orderly government by the GOP.
You really think you're going to get an honest negotiation on the basis of a promise, Charley Brown Schumer?
I am proud of the 16 Democrats who voted Nay. I am angry with my Senators Cantwell and Murray. And I am profoundly disappointed in Senator Duckworth.
When you have leverage, use it; particularly when your opponent has a record of kneecapping an opponent before a fistfight.
3
"Democrats had debated whether to trust Senator Mitch McConnell’s word."
Give me a YUGE break. That man, the same one who refused to do his Constitutionally defined duty to bring the SCOTUS Merrick Garland nomination to a vote (for which he deserves censure, and a Constitutional Amendment to repair that egregious error), the same man who had his WIFE named to the traitor's cabinet (wake up America! She doesn't even use her husband's name! Elaine Chao is Mrs. McConnell), has broken his word many times. This time will come as no surprise, either. It's a sad day when Sen. Schumer caves to a bogus promise of "discussion". It's a nothing-burger.
1
Dems are weak and have been snookered again. They bring a set of documents to a suicide bombing.
1
I firmly believe the Rs will do nothing on these Dem issues, because they can.
They will feel no blow back until November. Elections have consequences, maybe some of the Dem groups who failed to show up in November will show up in 2018.
2
I'm just here to point out this typo: “The president stayed firm, Republicans stayed firm and Democrats Ithink realized that they had to move past that piece of legislation” in order to discuss immigration going forward, Ms. Sanders said."
Spineless Democrats. You just embolden both Trump. If you think that you will get a deal on the dreamers, you are dreaming. They might as well prepared to be deported. Trump has his wall you. Thanks Schumer.
1
He only gets the wall if the Dreamers stay. What's worrisome is what else they're going to demand. If it's too much there will be no deal.
Elections have consequences. Get out there and vote in November. Don't make the same mistake twice and give us several more years of assured destruction.
1
As usual Democrats cave, and they will again in 3 weeks.
4
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice. . .
You get the idea. Schumer, apparently, does not. The Democrats just threw the Dreamers under the bus.
2
The Republicans will introduce a bill that grants DACA enrollees legal resident status in exchange for measures to stop future illegal immigration and a shift to merit-based immigration. This will be a good deal for Americans as well as Dreamers. Democrats should push to include DACA enrollee families and unauthorized immigrants with U.S.-born children.
1
Although I usually disagree with you on immigration matters, I don't have a problem with passing measures to secure our borders from illegal immigration and to increase merit-based immigration as long as it doesn't wholly supplant family reunification arrivals.
Personally, I think the Democrats should agree to excluding sister/brother and more remote relationships from family reunification, but allow parent and child petitions no matter what the age of the child. The reduction in petitions could be used to increase the number of merit-based applications.
1
Today I revoked my Democratic party affiliation. I now identify as a progressive independent. The Democratic party just proved that they really are snowflakes (I've spent too many hours defending myself against this label) who stand for nothing and can't take the heat.
CHIP is NOT a win for democrats!!!! CHIP is a hugely popular bill passed by democrats and revoked by republicans. Who would take the heat if it was not renewed? Republicans!! If the republican party failed to renew CHIP, that would be a HUGE win for democrats - even middle america would vote against the child-killing GOP. The GOP bluffed, and the dems folded and then bent over. They have zero clue what the word leverage means. The GOP said "we will give you back what you already had, which benefits the GOP, and in return you should give us everything we want, which also benefits the GOP. The dems are like a car dealer who says "I'll give you the car, and in return I'll give you $100k."
This party of weaklings and losers does not represent me. No party in America does. I am a political party of one. So I am done being a Democrat, and I'm very close to fed up with being an American.
2
You're giving too much credit to the average American voter who Democrats need to win elections. The spin about CHIP was boomeranging against the Democrats. And a long shutdown would never yield concessions from the scorch-and-burn Republicans, while distrust and resentment for the Democrats was going to mount. And the Republicans weren't bluffing, because the ball was in their court when the Democrats shutdown the government.
You're very articulate and well informed, and I hope you'll at least vote for Democrats in the future, because the alternative is what got us here.
1
I don't trust this racist president that lied 2000 times publicly last year. I don't trust Paul Ryan and Mich McConnell. I don't trust Stephen Miller and general Kelly who are both racist.
I am sorry for federal workers, people that need federal services, CHIP children therefore maybe it made sense.
But I know that these GOP people will lie anytime and attack immigrants like piranhas and enjoy taste of their tears and blood.
4
Dems had the upper hand and wimped out as usual. Can't trust McConnell! Just ask Susan Collins. Disgusted.
5
This is another reason why democrats lose, spineless cowards.
5
The message should be to Republicans: Return to regular order! Restore representative democracy! When major legislation that affects all citizens is written in the dark and presented as "Take it or leave it" to the minority party, the voices and votes of millions of citizens who voted for Democrats are silenced and nullified. When bills are not brought to the floor for an up or down vote until there are enough Republican votes to pass it, there is no accountability to voters. The founders did not enshrine a one-party dictatorship.
5
Schumer, et al, you're being played. Use the leverage you have now to get a deal for the dreamers AND fund the children's health insurance program.
There is no need for further debate on this issue. The dreamers should stay, and should be able to work toward citizenship. End of story.
In fact, put the bi-partisan bill that was already negotiated up for a vote and see if Trump will sign it. If not, it will truly be HIS shutdown.
5
I am tired of all these multiple item bills, in which one issue--which we'd like to approve-- is mixed into an issue that is undesirable for passage.
When will Congress start writing "clean" one-item bills so the good laws can pass while the bad ones are rejected?
Case in point: When the public votes on local and state issues, each issue, whether for taxes, state constitutional amendments, or allocation of funds for specific purposes, the separate items each have their own lines on the ballots. How is Congress any different when deciding yes or no on bills?
Stop the nonsense and write bills for single issues, only!
4
I cannot overstate how bad a decision I think this was. There is no progressive party, there needs to be one.
3
Perhaps the one good thing that came out of this shutdown is that a bipartisan group of Senators reached a policy agreement and were able to move it forward to a vote. As a Democrat, we didn't get everything we wanted, but that is what compromise means.
1
If ever there was a chance for the legislative Branch of The United States Government to assert itself, that time is now.
The Oval Office is occupied by a man with no deeply-held policy positions. That same man is advised by people with little-to-none legislative experience. In the run-up to this weekend’s government shutdown, President Trump made it clear to all that he has no idea how to actually govern.
Congress has made this same fact clear for the past 9 years.
It does not have to be this way.
The next three years could be a golden era of bipartisanship if the rational middles from both sides of the aisle work together to craft moderate, reasonable legislative proposals. The bomb-throwers on the left and the right can vote against these proposals, but if 67 Senators and 291 representatives stay together, they can accomplish a lot in three years.
President Trump has shown himself to be inconsistent in his policy stances—from month to month, week to week, and even hour to hour. If there is a solid contingent of Senators and Representatives willing to take a huge risk and step into the policy void left by an oddly uninformed Executive, Congress could reassert itself and make some things happen.
A little bit of competence demonstrated by at least one branch of the government would be really welcome right about now.
http://c-dawson.blogspot.com/2018/01/a-call-for-congressional-competence...
As a lifelong Democrat and close follower of politics, I am totally disgusted. In 60 short hours, Schumer and the rest of our braintrust managed to pick the wrong fight at the wrong time, declare their absolute commitment to that fight, and then utterly cave. And forego a 6 year CHIP extension in the process while getting nothing (except egg all over their faces) in return. I wonder how likely they will be to try again after McConnell and Ryan list their non-negotiable demands come February.
4
Where do the Democrats go from here?
Because I only see two choices at this point. They can either wait for, and vote for, GOP house drafted legislation that pairs a long path to citizenship for the "dreamers" with an end to chain migration, an end to the visa lottery, and substantive border security - which they previously turned down. Or they can shut down the government again on Feb 8, which they've already proven they can't stomach.
Both choices force them to embrace deeply unpopular, untenable positions with their base and with moderates. Meanwhile, the GOP gets to force a winning issue - again! - while making more ads that paint the Democrats as the party of amnesty, crime, and open borders, just in time to rile their base up for 2018.
Seriously, can someone who thinks "progressive" help me understand how Democrats think this is going to pan out? What's the best case scenario here? That the GOP can be painted as "heartless" by sticking to their position on illegal immigration? That spending more time talking about the particulars of illegal immigration, chain migration, merit based immigration, and visa lotteries is going to somehow help the Democrats?
I think the Democrats lost their minds when Trump was elected. Because what they're doing now seems like a political Kamikaze mission. Or the equivalent to...
1) steal pants,
2) ?????
3) success!
Please, for the love of logic and the viability of our two party system, there's more to it than this, right? RIGHT?
2
Looks like the Democrats caved in exchange for a "promise." They should not have gone down this road at all if they were not going to stick it out.
3
What's important about this equivocation is that it establishes a quid pro quo for amnesty. Now the real negotiations for amnesty can begin, like ending chain migration and instituting a robust E-verity system. The very thing Schumer, et al, had hoped to avoid by compromising, they facilitated.
2
I would almost feel sorry for the democrats, but the policies they support and positions they take are so disastrous for most Americans they deserve to lose and continue to lose.
2
I watched Senator McConnell after the vote was taken. An opportunity to reach across the aisle and help erase some of the acrimony that has taken place over the past few months. Senator McConnell instead chose to blast the Democrats. His body language told me he has no intention of upholding his end of the agreement.
2
The GOP accepted a permanent plan for DACA kids to stay here but that was NOT acceptable to Mr. Schumer: he also wanted to kill the wall.
But there is little history of GOP Presidents holding tough against Democratic insistence on closing down the government. GOPers have traditionally never gotten into politics out of anger. But Mr. Obama publicly ridiculed Mr. Trump in 2015 or so, and Mr. Trump had decided it was his time.
1
Hi Guys,
I think this might help--Open a nationwide "chain" of absolutely-THE VERY BEST
Mexican restaurants in this country-like all over the country.
And call the chain-"THE WALL."
2
After two days of government shutdown, Schumer and the Dems realized it would be wise to vote to reopen the government, Public opinion was shifting towards blaming the Democrats for shutdown. This was due to Trump and GOP framing the issue as the military is being hurt and our borders are threatened. The military is always the sacred cow in the United States. The Trump administration and GOP used this nationalistic and patriotic fervor as well as the fear factor to their favor and came out looking not guilty for the shutdown, Hopefully the Dems will learn how to control the message to the media in the future,
2
I am REALLY DISAPPOINTED in the Senators representing Minnesota. Trump & Miller, McConnell and Ryan should not be trusted. This was the time to stand firm and vote NO. DACA needs to be protected. If it goes down or is discontinued, many Minnesotans are going to work very diligently to make certain that NEW PEOPLE are elected to the Senate and Congress. Our current leaders have been hanging out with Paul Ryan too long. They have forgotten that they represent Minnesotans. It is not just the Republicans who are failing the American People... Many Democrats are too.
1
Some commentators predict that the Senate will encounter another impasse when the promised immigration bill comes up for a vote before the Feb. 8 deadline, but this won’t happen, if both sides keep their word. Today both sides pledged not to use parliamentary procedure to block a vote on the immigration bill. This means neither side can filibuster the bill, and this means only 51 votes—not 60 votes—will be needed to pass the bill, with the vice president casting a tiebreaker vote, if necessary. The Republicans don’t need the filibuster, since they are in the majority. And the Democrats wouldn’t break their word and filibuster the bill if they disagree with its provisions, would they?
Although most of the as yet obvious Democratic Presidential candidates voted 'no,' as a liberal-leaning Democrat who is looking for a President who knows how to compromise and get things done, I would favor that someone from the 33 who voted 'yes' get the 2020 nomination; however, I'll see who most actively works to get a compromise through by February 8, and if it's someone from the 'no' voters, I'll be receptive.
Schumer did the right thing-- shutdowns hurt both parties, and the Dems were coming out in the worse position. By framing it this way, he has shown willingness to negotiate in good faith, and if McConnell does not follow through, he and the GOP hardliners will be holding the bag for what happens after that. Dems need to keep pushing forward and holding the GOP accountable for the consequences of inaction.
1
Remember - McConnell did not say he'd pass or even help pass a DACA bill. He just said he'd introduce a bill for debate. If anyone out there believes a bill will actually be passed, especially by Congress, then I have some swamp land to sell you. While I understand the Dems had no real choice, I can't help but be disgusted by their weakness.
Really 81-18 says it all. This was a Schumer shutdown for no other political reason than to kill President Trumps successful roll on the economy and Tax Reform which is wildly successful.
2
The only way Trump participated in this negotiation was by staying silent and not derailing it - again. Can we make this a permanent strategy? How, in the space of a week, can anyone forget that there was an agreement, ready to go, and then Trump goes back to his office and is told what to agree to by the new "brain trust" with Stephen Miller. These are the guys who stop the government and then shift the blame to anyone they can find.
3
NO, it wasn't the Democrats! It was the common sense of the American people.
5
Winning, literally.
8
So come back in 3 weeks for the same thing all over again.
25
In 2016, all the left wing liberals got mad because they could not vote for Bernie for president. So they refused to vote for Hillary and now we are stuck with Trump.
Get mad at Schumer, withhold your liberal vote, show those centrist Democrats what you are made of. Then watch an even larger Republican majority dismantle immigration, the social safety net, healthcare, civil rights, voting rights- the list goes on.
The one thing Republicans do well is back their candidate-even if he smells like a 4 day old salmon. You would think that by now those high minded Democrats would have figured it out by now.
40
Good point. We would not be in this situation if all Dems had backed Hillary and got out and voted.
Well out of all this we now have a new meme "Tuesday Trump."
We now know that our President once alone with his staff is reprogrammed by Stephan Miller and Gen. Kelly to be a hard right automaton.
We do not have a Leader in Donald Trump that most of the American people can believe in and follow.
10
Trust Mitch McConnell, Paul Ryan, and Donald Drumpf? Dream on.
21
I see the Democrats are ready to cave in and allow the wall to be built. This will be a shot in the arm for the GOP and a slap in the face for all Democrats. It will reverse the support that the Democrats have been gaining since Trump become president.
6
Once again, the Democrats blinked and showed they still haven't learned that they have to play hardball with this gang. They shut down the government for nothing -- as one commenter noted, immigration policy is important to Democratic voters, but is not a priority -- got nothing in return, but will be blamed for it. A promise to take up legislation by the party that effectively stole a U.S. Supreme Court seat isn't worth the paper it wasn't printed on.
9
Playing a weak hand, I think the Democrats in their majority have made the right decision. It's not a matter of naively "trusting McConnell". It's a matter of calculating who pays politically if he breaks the agreement hammered out by the bipartisan group of Senators. I think Republicans will pay a big price in November if he betrays the bipartisan agreement that he has publicly claimed he fully accepts. On the other side of the coin, the longer the Democrats had let the shutdown drag on by refusing to vote on the short-term resolution, the more it would have hurt their candidates running in red states in the mid-term elections. If they are seriously committed to winning a majority in the House, they have to win those seats in November.
11
Chuck Schumer is foolish.
How many times has Mitch McConnell lied to the country? McConnell is congenitally dishonest.
Nothing will be done on the Dreamers now?
4
Analyze as you wish, but the bottom line is that Democrats gambled and blew it. Prioritizing the well being of illegal aliens (any kind of illegal alien) over the interests of legal immigrants and American Citizens is never wise politics. Voters will remember this during the approaching congressional elections. Wait for it.
20
The Democratic Party continues to disappoint me. Show some backbone!
2
Yep, some backbone.
Or at least, some respect for the law.
Like immigration law (i.e. only legal entry permited)
Like welfare and social services laws (only US citizens, Green Card holders and lawful immigrants can use)
Etc.
Etc.
Note: Working toward obeying the law might not - unlike the current practices of Dems as far as DACA and all other illegals is concerned - might not automatically lead to raising Dem voter base among immigrants.
1
Democrats. We're all dreamers.
2
Two words explaining why Democrats are loathe to trust Mitch McConnell:
Merrick Garland
15
Democrats misplayed their hand badly. Senators worried about their reelection miscalculated. Why? 1. Republicans made CHIP & DACA bargaining chips which is DESPICABLE and Democratss played their game. 2. They didn't realize just how bad trump was looking and how much trouble he was in and they let him off the hook. Bad instincts, bad politics.
2
DACA will survive - I think that's obvious.
Trump lured us all in: he wasn't going to cut DACA; it's one of the obvious "These-people-get-to-stay" buckets in any immigration policy. He wanted a bargaining chip and look at us now: all of us celebrating how DACA will get a vote like it's a win. We'll end up with a wall - that's what he wanted - and a wall is just stupid and doomed to be ineffective, but it's not harmful. So Trump won his battle to build a wall that the Mexican's won't vote for and, when they want to visit the US, likely won't slow down for either.
What's more positive - and may end up being an unintended consequence that Trump really regrets - is that a "middle" coalition has emerged in Congress. Reasonable centrists have recognized that *they* have the power in an essentially evenly split Senate with a highly ineffective President. This will serve good governance well over the next twelve months and then in the lame-duck last two years of Trump's presidency.
5
Schumer looks like a complete buffoon to come away with absolutely nothing. Could he be Trump's long lost twin brother?
5
I sometimes wonder if the majority of the Democrats are in the pay of the Republicans. They exist to give the appearance of an opposition party but their opposition too often is in name only. Their history of caving should raise suspicions. Silly conspiracy theory, probably, but something doesn't smell right.
3
You might be right, they exist to make republicans look good in comparison.
1
I see a lot of people here saying that we should mistrust both Majority Leader and the President. And I agree. However the short term spending bill guarantees that we can be right back her on February 9th if they prove to be untrustworthy which will make it quite clear who is negotiating in good faith and who is not.
Trust but verify and keep your powder dry.
4
Is it nice that you quote here Ronnie Reagan (Trust but verify), who originally got it from Russian "Daveryay no praveryay" from Gorby.
So we have some bipartisanship and even acceptance of something from those supposedly bad, bad Russians?
Get your Passports and Enhanced driver licenses now. Be prepared. In keeping with Republican tradition to enforce their military empire, Trump and Congressional Republicans are intent on creating new enemies that endanger America. Chinese, North Koreans, Hispanics, Muslims, and who else do they tick off? Oh Yeah! Half of Americans. Republican Conservatives are anti-social misfits in the world.
5
I forgot; Palestinians. It's highly likely a war will happen.
And when Trump wanted to work on better relationship with Russia: where you have been?
Illegal immigrants demanding things didn’t go over so well.
20
They are not illegal.
To paraphrase “The government had to choose between war and shame. They chose shame. They will get war too.” (As may or may not be attributed to Winston Churchill.) The Democrat’s today have chosen between right and shame. They chose shame and will receive nothing in return from this lying president and his loyal, shameful and cowardly Republican minions. Once a liar, always a liar. Hey, we are all still waiting for the president to show us his tax forms. Liars, have you no shame! That’s a rhetorical question. It’s obvious you don’t.
2
The Democrats "caved"—
As they had to and should have—
Their shutdown stand should have been made last month, over the enormous tax scam giveaway. That would "stick"—and resonate with the public.
5
That would not have helped because for the tax bill only half plus 1 vote was needed, which does not need Dems. For this one 60% of votes is needed, Which is not possible without Dems.
To change this gross expression of leadership by the Republicans, the solution is to organize and vote. VOTE 2018!
6
Lets start with the facts:
1.The Federal Governments Fiscal Year started October 1, 2017 & spending should have been approved prior.
2. The Republicans control both houses of Congress and the White House.
3. McConnell, Ryan & Trump have proven over and over again that they LIE and cannot be trusted!
4. The issue with CHIP funding was created by the Republicans and DACA was created by the man child in the White House. Both of these issues should have been resolved long before now.
5. Republicans only cared about one thing and one thing only! THE TAX SCAM bill they passed in the dead of night with no debate or amendments allowed. The bill that paid back their Corp & Rich donors and stole from the working class.
6. The Republicans will not keep their word and on Feb 8th we will be right back where we are now! Unfortunately I'm sure by that point Paul Ryan & his "Freedom" Caucus buddies will have rammed through legislation that will drastically change Medicare, Medicaid and other Social nets to use once again as a bargaining chips.
7. The only way to resolve this is to VOTE in mass Nov 2018 and remove the Republicans from control!
11
Something is telling me that this Nov it will not be the time Dems would get a control of any chamber of the US Congress. Certainly not the House, so ...
Dems choked again. They refused to object loudly to the racist TV ads Team Trump flooded the airwaves this weekend. The Dems blinked. Trump didn’t. Now Trump has additional time to further weaken any DACA bill that may ultimately pass. Dems hoping to grab wavering Trump voters, run the risk losing their progressive base to independent candidates.
3
To me, what you describe and foresee doesn't look that bad. Actually OK, long overdue?
Now let’s move on to more important things - like shutting down the GOP!
1
Dreamers continue to be hostages until 45 can say "The State of the Union is Good". Just imagine if the Democrats had held the line and not allowed him to say that! I'm so disappointed in the Democrats...but I'm sure far less disappointed that those great kids.
1
By using that manipulative label "dreamers" you and others this irk immigration law honoring fellow Americans.
1
Democrats' leverage comes from McConnell looking like a jerk if he doesn't follow through. Also, the optics of this are better for Schumer than for McConnell, as Schumer looks like he is the more flexible negotiator.
Let's hope Schumer's efforts bear fruit for the Dreamers.
3
This will work. By now everybody knows the GOP has committed to a solution, and further renegging will take place in the limelight. Too bad it had to come to this. Get ready for more.
1
The #EvilDJTrump is there for a reason. He says one thing one day t hen reverts when someone steps on his toes, he might have just had a bad hair day, but he then takes it out on his nation.
Don't trust the republicans, then I am not a democrat either. They both should be ousted out of office.
Dems caved. They really had no choice. I don't think the two parties will be able to agree on an immigration bill next month. Trump's price for amnesty for the Dreamers is going to be too high for Dems to swallow. Trump wants a sizable down payment on the wall (e.g., $5B); a limitation on follow-on (chain) immigration to immediate nuclear family members; an elimination of the visa lottery system; adoption of a merit-based immigration system; a reduction in the number of refugees accepted every year; a means of punishing sanctuary cities and states; and a change in the law to make it easier for ICE to deport people. He may also ask for mandatory employer e-verify and a prohibition against colleges enrolling non-citizen students who lack a valid visa. This could be an epic conflict.
1
Why you don't prefer and support a merit-based system that (most of the) countries, including so civilized ones like Canada and Australia have?
Boy, those Democrats drive a hard bargain, dont they? Gosh, I sure hope I never have to negotiate wtih them. I might only get 105 percent of what I want.
7
'tis a sad day. The Dems need to stand for something. They did not protect either DACA or CHIP.
New leadership needed or the steamroller will continue.
2
Indeed, we dems are disgraceful. We deserve everything the GOP shoved down our throats.
It's time to vote out the old guard.
The dog fight is just ongoing and the midterm elections will announce winners and losers. A simple delay is nothing and Dreamers and supporters will come out and scream bloody-murder loud and clear. The GOP is sinking into their own bile and cannot seem to understand that their time in the leadership barrel would be so short lived. They are underdogs for 2018 and beyond.
Using and squeezing all propaganda potential from that manipulating "dreamers" label actually rattles more and more fellow Americans, so that you know.
How about- next time - shut the govt down till 2020? With Trump in charge - no govt is better than some govt.
I wasn’t all that big on border security before this most recent negotiation when the Democrats started giving some credibility to Trump’s silly border wall. Even people who know Trump is a total fork now have to take the whole thing seriously. Here’s my solution. I am not sure, but if you paid all the illegal immigrants to form a human chain from the Pacific to the Caribbean and paid them $15/hour, it would probably be just as effective and a lot cheaper than Trump’s wall. Of course, there would be no pathway to citizenship—just the promise of deportation if you let any illegal immigrants through. Sorry about that pathway to citizenship thing, but there is no way we can add 11,000,000 New Democrats to the voter rolls. But a job and the luxury of mot being deported from America now that it is great again has got to be pretty attractive. And half a loaf is better than nothing. I bet they would take it. Best of all, eventually, they will all die — problem solved. (Of course, that birthright citizenship thing would have to be abolished for anyone who is not Norwegian.)
1
Democrats are taking an incalculable risk by trusting a word from the GOP
1
How is it this article doesn't say anything about CHIP funding?
1
Once again, we've been duped by our own party.
1
Imagine if this was over Universal Health Care. or even CHIP.
1
Thank you Senator Schumer for switching the party's priority rom illegal immigrants to U.S. citizens. It is much appreciated. Keep it up.
8
Good comment.
At last, Dem leadership got it half right: They can't forever ignore fellow Americans and favor illegal immigrants (potential Dem voters) in stead.
1
The Democrats were in a terrible position here. But in the long run, the Republicans are in a terrible position. They have three choices: they can agree to a DACA bill, which will infuriate their base; they won't agree, and DACA youth will start getting deported, video of which will infuriate and horrify Americans and the GOP will lose even worse than they already are going to in November; they won't agree and Trump, in his reptile brain, will realize that video of DACA youth getting deported will be the end of him and he will extend it.
I don't see any way the GOP wins this in the end. Americans want these kids to stay and if they don't, the GOP will get blamed.
More likely is that Trump will get the credit for DACA and will be given substantial concessions with the wall and major changes in immigration policies, which are sorely needed. This debate has brought to the forefront some of the absurdities of our immigration policies, which to be fair were developed in the 1960s with bi-partisan support. Democrats will have a difficult time defending many of them so will give Trump what he needs for his own political cover. Do Democrats really believe they can win in November by repeatedly citing their fight for less than a million illegal immigrants, regardless of the circumstances that brought them here?
2
Democrats demonstrated to Republicans something that they had previously displayed no awareness of: Democrats exist. It's a shot across the bow that Dems won't be doormats going forward. The shutdown was very popular with the base. It embarrassed Trump, spoiled his anniversary, and was a showcase for his unsuitability as president.
Dems came across as the adults in the room, and Trump and the Republicans acted like they were overdosed on testosterone. If Republicans don't negotiate in good faith on Dreamers, Democrats will have full license for a shutdown in three weeks.
Let's hope Trump and the GOP have a few more "wins" like this one.
2
I believe you that you really think that things go and will go as you - like a Dreamer - described here.
I understand the need to get a compromise in place, and applaud the Dems for reading the writing on the wall. However, when McConnell reneges on his promise once again, take the gloves off, and go to the mats. McConnell is not to be trusted, and the WH is being run by the Kelly/Miller coup d'etat. So from now on NOT ONE STEP BACK!
1
What kind of physical violence you are here - publicly, in writing and even in newspaper of record - suggestion or call for?
Go to the mats?
In the oldest modern democracy?
The government will open up, the republicans will present a bill that deports dreamers, ends chain migration, and moves to a totally merit based immigration policy. Keep in mind that these same people have not kept any promises they have made in these negotiations. They will respond to the democrats that they "kept"' their promise and so be it. It looks like Stephen Miller and Gen. Kelly are the real leaders... There will only be changes if the people that stayed home last November come out and vote the circus out.
What exactly you have again merit-based immigration?
Even liberal dreamland like Canada etc. has it.
1
Obama's solution for the dreamers was ruled illegal by the courts from the beginning. Having congress deal with it is the adult thing to do.
Republicans don't want to throw out the Dreamers, not at all.
But everybody knows we need better border security and and end to chain, and lottery migration.
Seems Trump was right again.
8
Correct. Creating a merit-based system and finding a better way to monitor the two-thirds of illegal immigrants who overstay their visas must also be included. Democrats know Trump will not walk away without substantial concessions and the really smart ones know that Trump and Republicans will get at least part of the credit for DACA, making it a mostly moot issue in November. Democrats don't seem to realize that on this an so many other issues Trump, whose distracting tweets get most of the attention by liberals and the MSM, is running circles around them.
2
Even in this, the lies continue to gush forth from the White House; the military was never subject to shutdown, nor was the Border Patrol. In light of that, I wonder about the judgement of Schumer and the Democratic leadership in accepting promises from the Repubs and their clown prince at 1600; I should have thought that by this time they would realize that Republican promises promise nothing at all.
So, it looks like the cam is being kicked down the road a bit further. Then we go through this all over again in a month. This is what happens when the party in charge has no idea of how to govern
You are all overthinking this. Most Americans don't pay any attention to the news, don't understand how government works, and don't remember anything past yesterday morning. If they remember this at all in November, they will vaguely remember that the gov shut down for a day on the anniversary of Trump's inauguration. No big deal. In November they will vote for whoever they think looks good or sounds good.
3
It is pretty snobbish, elitist, arrogant to insult fellow Americans (or anyone) when they don't see things or vote as you wish.
So "all power to the people" ... as long as they behave as liberals want them to behave?
This game of chicken ended up with the Democrats veering off the road into a ditch. It is so incredibly sad to watch the completely ineffective Charles Schumer operate so clumsily in the Senate. Like prior to the election of 2016, the situation could not be riper for Democrats to wipe out the Republican majorities, but where is the leadership of the party? In the meeting last week with Trump and the Democratic leadership, they all looked like statues from a wax museum somewhere. I have nothing against age, except when it impacts negatively on the ability to lead. Democrats so desperately need some fresh, energized, passionate, effective leaders.
1
As usual the Democrats in congress caved... Very disappointing but hardly unexpected. I guess there are really only 18 of them in the senate you can trust, the rest just went along with the obvious lies of Mitch McConnell. Just wait, we'll be in the exact same spot in three weeks...
This was a smart move for Democrats. They’ve made the point that immigration policy is important, and Republicans will own the continuing deportations and blatant racism.
1
I'm a liberal progressive lifelong democrat, and though I'm not in favor of any person undergoing hardship, I really don't care about the, "dreamers." Especially their plight being used as fulcrum by the democrats to leverage their votes for legislation.
This reminds me of the transgender bathroom debate last year. I don't care, and neither does most of America. Democrats should choose a cause that affects us all, like "single payer" or infrastructure spending.
As for the "dreamers," if my parents smuggled me into Sweden years ago, would I expect Sweden to grant me citizenship, just because they hadn't caught me all these years?
The dreamers parents got them into this mess by illegally emigrating into a foreign country. Now, we are all to take up their cause to stay here?
Bottom line, Schumer, and the democrats need to get their priorities in order. Their are still plenty of legal American citizens who are hurting, and Schumer should not waste the rare leverage he gets on things that have little impact on the larger population.
5
While I would be against a single-payer government-run HC system, you articulate the point about the Dreamers better than most conservatives. Why this important point seems missed by most liberals is difficult to understand. By the same token, the other side of this debate, is that major immigration policy reforms are necessary, something that will have to be part of any DACA bill to pass. That may make it a win for both parties if legislation passes, but more for Republicans who liberals expected to get none should a form of DACA ever be enacted by legislation. It might also be reminder in November that Democrats prefer to do things by fiat and will exercise that power should they ever get it again.
1
I agree, 800 of the 800, 000 joined the military, let THOSE people stay and have a path to citizenship. We don't really even know who IS a dreamer, it's self identifying and politics shaped to get more Democratic voters.
The name was picked to tug at everyone's heartstrings, but we also need to be practical. Don't like your real estate taxes not being covered? Invite another 20 million in and watch them double.
Let's work on infrastructure and stop this broken immigration system. Everyone wants good people to come here, and I'm sure there are good people in the "Dreamer" group who can be helped, but wholesale acceptance, is pretty naive.
1
You're not a liberal progressive.
1
Not sure how long Americans should drag this broken government. Hopefully not like Wall street the whole country won't break apart soon. Its never late to impeach and save the innocents rather than never. One aspect is very clear that Trump administration will never listen to the 80% of U.S. population, from whom he received the majority votes to get elected. I have seen this last few decades in lots of third world countries in twentieth century. Really interested who are the masterminds to run this puppet government and future havocs of good U.S. citizens.
Even if McConnell keeps his promise, and the Senate passes legislation that protests the Dreamers, I predict the House will reject anything the Senate passes. Ryan adheres to the Hastert rule that the only legislation that can come to the floor is that which can be passed by a majority of majority party., in this instance the GOP. The Freedom Caucus has roughly 40 members and they have said they will not support DACA. This was a safe bet for McConnell, and Schumer should have known it before he went down the path of shutting down the government with DACA as the focal point of the Dems opposition.
Regardless of that, the critical issue remains. These Continuing Resolutions in lieu of a budget is crazy. It also demonstrates quite clearly that the Republicans have enormous differences among themselves as to what the budget should actually be. Trump's chaotic approach compounds that problem.
10
Of course, this is a disappointment to all wanting to drag our country back from the Republican abyss. There will be more such disappointments.
We must focus on expelling Republicans from control of our legislative branch next November, and suffer our defeats meanwhile. There's simply no other path to effective results.
11
So then, insisting that our government control illegal immigration is defined by you as “Republican abyss”. Views like this display the attitudes and inner thinking of today’s Democrat.
Shutting down the US government on behalf of a group of people that are not citizens and are not in this country legally. America just watched that.
Such views and the marches of pink hate that were on display this past weekend makes me pretty confident that you people are going to be serving yourself more Donald Trump come 2020. After all, you are the reason he is president now. You are aware of that?
2
No Terry, they are not aware, and it only helps their cause to remind them. They think the marches on the weekend represents a huge majority of women. Wait until November when married women, conservative women and women in the Midwest and South get to vote while being reminded that the illegal immigrants and their families matter more to Democrats than legal immigrants and American citizens.
1
For Republicans to honor their promise to negotiate in a fair bipartisan manner with Democrats regarding DACA and immigration, Ryan and/or McConnell must visit the White House explaining to Trump that he needs to tell Stephen Miller to "shut up" with the nativist nonsense.
16
I look forward to seeing if the shutdown will return in February. I'm not convinced that Trump will allow DACA to be put into law. He has made it a base issue. With DACA, he has manufactured a problem where there was none before. The majority of the people support both DACA and CHIP and until now, the majority of congress on both sides supported them. The reason we went to shutdown is because Trump does not care about CHIP, does not want any kind of liberal immigration reform, and because the GOP establishment has decided to go along with this Trumpian tragicomedy. The congress needs to ignore the president and act according to the will of the people. If that means ignoring Trump and using the two thirds rule to override presidential veto, so be it. That is how the system is supposed to work, with the separation of powers. Every day I go to work and do my job. Congress should finally do theirs.
93
President Trump has shown himself to be inconsistent in his policy stances—from month to month, week to week, and even hour to hour. If there is a solid contingent of Senators and Representatives willing to take a huge risk and step into the policy void left by an oddly uninformed Executive, Congress could reassert itself and make some things happen.
A little bit of competence demonstrated by at least one branch of the government would be really welcome right about now.
http://c-dawson.blogspot.com/2018/01/a-call-for-congressional-competence...
1
Trump doesn't call the shots.
Miller and Kelly do.
I've watched as people have sniped about the "do-nothing" Democrats in Congress since Trump was elected. But they ignore the fact that both houses are GOP controlled, and that the Democrats' options are severely limited by the way the rules heavily favor the party in power. I also don't believe that, when a deal like this is made, all of the negotiating points are revealed to the public.
5
I'm not sure that I trust McConnell or Ryan so time will tell. In any event, Democrats are trusting Republicans who promise to negotiate with bipartisan fairness in the very near future on immigration issues.
Let's put that promise in context.
Have these same Republicans honored their promise to Senator Collins regarding long-term Medicare stability after she agreed to vote for the recent tax legislation?
This future promise circumstance reminds me of J. Wellington Wimpy's line from the Popeye cartoon; "I'll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today."
9
Considering that a Republican can change his mind mid-sentence, and considering that by the time Chuck Schumer got back to the capitol from the White House, the Republicans had reneged on Trump's budget agreement, I would recommend against holding your breath waiting for any DACA negotiations.
6
About that vote tracker - Bernie Sanders and Angus King are Independents, not Democrats.
4
I don't know why they're all smiling. America has humiliated itself on the international stage (again), and the underlying conflict hasn't been resolved at all.
6
Don't count on the Democrats for anything, they are also part of the problem. As corrupt as any. And do not expect anything from Mr. Schumer either. From now on, they will be soft on Trump. He will get his wall and will insist that "Mexico pay for it", thus triggering another ugly diplomatic crisis with a country that is not only our neighbor, but a trading partner as well, albeit not for long, if Trump has his way. He's already sort of declared war on that country by calling it "the most dangerous country in the world". Trump's agenda, while publically opposed by many, is tacitly supported by many others. I have a feeling that, no matter what outrageous, racist or extremely shocking statements Trump might make in the near future, nothing will happen and he will never be held accountable for anything. His recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel has given him a protective shield.
4
Thinking this based on.... ??
I'm disappointed. While at first glance I like the comparison to Lucy, Charlie Brown and the football, Charlie Brown was genuinely hopeful and rather brave in his own way. I don't know if I would say the same about the 33 senators who caved in.
7
Schumer is hardly the successful way forward for progressives. He and Pelosi are the embodiment of why, despite most of the country agreeing with liberal policies, we have a Republican-controlled government. Being the smart one in the room doesn't get you anywhere in Washington. Dems need to appoint some fighters.
69
Agreed, someone who will mail a dead fish if there's a need.
To pursue happiness?
Pelosi fought - she voted 'no'.
Remember Merrick Garland! I don't trust McConnel to follow the constitution, much less his word.
24
He reneged on a promise to Susan Collins, from his own party, that got her vote on the tax cut.
10
Come Feb.8th i.e 3 weeks, a new saga of shutdown will begin. Well. I hope there is a shutdown again. This time can the Democrats use the sham tax cut bill hostage?
6
They won’t negotiate with the Tax Plundering bill because they too are benefactors.
BOTH sides are at fault here.
It seems each roadblock is of the (D)s own making; CHP, the (R)s agreed to the extension; DACA, the (D)s want to reset the table.
Just like the (R)s played petty politics when Obama was in office, the (D)s are doing the same YET as time has passed and the political divide has widened the consequences are becoming far more concerning.
4
We just witnessed our federal government at its finest. Each side blaming the other for a shut down that never should have happened. Everyone that I talk to on both sides of the political spectrum agrees that we need to secure our borders if for no other reason then to stem the flow of drugs into our country. Everyone agrees that DACA needs to be dealt with in a way that gives them a path to citizenship. How all the issues are to be dealt with is up for debate but isn't that what we elect these people to do?
Sensible leaders would develop a clean bill to keep the government open, period. So why the hassle? Well it has to do with partisanship and which party is in control of the three branches of government. Who ever is not in control will do everything in their power to hinder the process.
We have all witnessed this behavior in school yards when children choose sides for a pick-up game. They all agree that they want to play but argue over who plays where.
I am an independent voter and I sit back and watch this juvenile behavior in amazement. Is there an answer to this? Yes. Term limits, Rules that state that if you shut down OUR government you forfeit your pay and lastly abandon these two parties, starve them of the money they use for re-election and become independent voters. In that way at the very least you will become an independent thinker not obligated to fall in line with either ideology. The country will be better off for it and perhaps we can elect adults.
3
We already have term limits to 8 years maximum service.
To commemorate how well the two-party system works to serve the best interests of the American people, it would be appropriate to introduce a new holiday to mark what is now a US tradition: National Shutdown Day.
9
Fantastic! We can keep the government running at 2-week intervals. And shutdowns perpetually in motion.
6
Dems are in a very weak position, on many fronts. At all levels, the people have voted in a very conservative government. Liberalism is on its back foot.
7
Not for long.
The popular vote suggests the people voted otherwise. However, recognizing the swath of intolerance controlled by republicans, it’s easy to see why the democrats will be blamed.
Dems got rolled. Anyone can say they agree to discuss something. They didn't promise to do anything .Plus Trump has already said he's not a part of this. We will hit March, and nothing will have been done about DACA. Trump created this mess by revoking the program, and giving congress a deadline for an agreement. They can't even agree to renew the CHIP program which expired last September., and all agree it should be renewed. This is all an exercise in futility and brinkmanship.
When all the deportations begin ( which is Stephen Miller's goal), let the Republicans explain those optics.
13
You overlook that Obama created this problem by creating DACA out of nothing. He said 22 times he didn't have the authority to do it, and then did it. Congress needs to deal with this, and President Trump has forced them to do their job.
3
For Democrats Obama was their sovereign so they struggle with understanding how the mere peasant, Trump, could overrule one of his mandates.
OK, folks, here's how this will play out. Nothing substantive will happen on DACA between now and the end of this extension, and we'll see Slippery Mitch and Lyin' Ryan weasel out of the so-called commitment. But you already knew this. Trust is earned, and Republicans have shown nothing worthy of trust for the past year.
28
"Trust is earned..."
Yes, and trust is also lost.
This is the first time I can recall thinking Sherrod Brown abandoned principal for the sake of an election win. And it's one time too many.
I suppose trust that's lost may be earned back. He has one chance, in three weeks. And there is no 'try', there is only 'do'.
Ball's in his court.
This vote will just harden the resolve of the anti-immigration conservatives.
7
There are vitually no americans opposed to lawful and beneficial immigration. There is substantial oppoition to illegal immigration.
3
We sure could have used a fighter like Senator Al Franken this week to set the republicans straight. Unfortunately his own party forced him out of office. The feckless and Franken-less democrats just handed Trump a second term.
13
It was essential to resolve this quickly.
Progressives need to focus on the 2018 elections, and ending the GOP's hold over Congress. If we achieve that, we can take significant steps to protect the country, including immigrants, from the brutal GOP agenda.
I did not support GOP shutdowns in the past, not only because I disagreed with the goals, but I also disagreed with the tactic. I still disagree with the tactic, even in the service of a laudable goad, like protecting the dreamers,
I don't think I'm the only person that feels that way.
A longer shutdown, even with better short term results, might well have undermined Democratic prospects in 2018.
61
I understand where you're coming from, but I disagree that this could have seriously harmed Dems in 2018. Fear and loathing toward GOP and Trump will far outweigh any shutdown drama. (It didn't really hurt GOP holdings in Congress in 2014 if I recall correctly.) I also agree that it's an undesirable tactic, in principle, but it is nonetheless a constitutional check of sorts for the minority.
Problem is that next time around (which might be very soon), Democrats can't afford to bluff it, because if Trump's 32% and the far right wing of Congress are loud enough, there's no guarantee a fair or just bill will land on Trump's desk, or that he'll sign it...
Democrats folded when Trump called them complicit in crimes committed by illegal immigrants. Did they fight back? Did they talk facts? Did they bring up the record of the Dreamers? No, they folded in exchange for a fake promise they rejected Friday.
Why? Fighters fight for something. Democrats are the Corporate neoliberal party the Clintons created that supervised the end of the New Deal and enormous growth of inequality. They have nothing to offer but a nicey face and a few band aids. DACA is the right thing to do but its a band aid. Dems should have been on fire about the tax bill and already campaigning about the looting of government programs and potential looting of Medicare and Social Security. They are almost a zombie party. Only Sanders and Warren have convictions and a vision for a reformed economy.
8
Completely agree the Democrat party should be for illegal immigrants first over the needs of legal citizens.
A novel way to think of DACA is, the parents rob a bank and get cought and their children demand to keep the money.
1
The Democrats can't be serious. Trust the GOP to do anything other than "consider" an immigration bill? Of COURSE the GOP will "consider" it --- they'll read it and reject it and in the meantime, the Democrats will have thrown the DACA kids under the bus.
8
Good move by the Dems, polls showed that Americans are not in favor of shutting down the government over illegal immigrants, that’s just a fact. Save your powder for the battles yet to come that directly concern the American voter.
14
I have a lot of faith in the judgement and morals of my WA State leadership, Senators Murray and Cantwell. I have zero trust in Snitch McConnell doing anything in good faith so I hope their risk is rewarded in giving up on the shutdown. I am further demoralized by Sarah HuckaSanders statement today to the press, saying this proves it is a vote "for" Trump and "against" Schumer. She gives nasty women everywhere a bad name.
17
Senator Murray has never had an original thought.
Senator Cantwell is fine -- but unless the Dems were promised something more in private, they are about to get the short stick. I hate to think Cantwell is that gullible.
You don't make anything clear in your letter and need to learn to spell names properly. Proper spelling for her name is Sarah Huckaby Sanders.
Her name is Huckabee Sanders so YOu need to watch your spelling and maybe a little Stephen Colbert to get the joke...
No mention in the article that CHIP was funded and a promise to do DACA in February. What did republicans get?
8
Oh, NO! You cannot trust the two-faced Mitch McConnell, hes' a pathological liar like Donald J. Trump and Steve Miller. America will never be great again, if the GOP is allowed to continue to lie to the Americans.
20
No stuff Sherlock. But this gets them on the record very visibly lying. When they try to renege on the dreamers they will pay a political price and will loose.
That is so true.
Fool me once shame on you; fool me twice...
OK, maybe Doug Jones gets a small pass this time because he hasn't been lied to yet by McConnell but Senators Coons, Heitkamp, Manchin et al. know better.
8
Well we know what the Dems gave. What did the Repubs give?
16
They funded CHIP for 6 years. The repubs also are left with a loosing issue of being opposed to helping the dreamers. They might get approval on the wall but that too is a looser, because it is clearly a waste of money that increases the national debt. The Republicans are left holding the bag while the Democrates can claim to have saved children needing health care.
1
Once again, the Democrats prove they are a party of chumps. What guarantee do they have, exactly, that the Republicans would negotiate in good faith?
There will be no good faith negotiations on DACA or immigration.
"Democrat" is spelled P-A-T-H-E-T-I-C.
16
They have plenty of proof. Read some New York Times articles on the subject.
I don't know what Schumer is smiling about. He just got Collinsed. New leadership is needed in the Democratic party.
19
Democrats have learned nothing from Trump. Whatever you think about hime, he knows how to manage the conversation, and paint others as bad...losers. Democrats allowed themselves to fall into the crevice and made themselves appear as losers. He you can't control the situation, learn from Trump pain the opponent as losers and blame them for asll the evil. What Schimer did was allow Trump to do it to Schumer/Democrats again. Think before you act so that you don't have to deal with remorse afterwards. If the wall is built and DACA is not addressed pity the poor Democrats.
7
As Donald begins to crow about how this miracle is all due to him, Democrats must use the media wisely, both social and the real media. Get that message out to normal people, and use your pr money when it counts. This is a propaganda war and everything Donald does is for propaganda.
6
Good luck with that. The Dems lost the 2016 election because they don't know how to communicate -- they have the absolutely worst PR in the world. I don't understand why, but the result is we now have a Kleptocratic Kakistocracy.
Kleptocratic: Agovernment or state in which those in power exploit national resources and steal; rule by a thief or thieves.
Kakistocracy: A system of government which is run by the worst, least qualified, or most unscrupulous citizens.
1
Yes, I totally agree. It's a long and winding topic, but the Dems hadn't a clue how Bannon had colonized the effective media and made vice more attractive than virtue.
Will we all be meeting back here on February 8th, telling each other, "we told you so?" Trump and Republicans are despicable, lacking any humanity and morality. Women and people of color will be especially energized to vote during the midterm elections.
8
Once again, Democrats knuckled under to the far right. Its disappointing but not surprising. As the grandson of a Mexican immigrant, I have to wonder why I should continue to support Democrats - they are only marginally better than Republicans. The exception is that, as disgusting and vile as they are, you know what Republicans stand for and they are not afraid of a fight. Democrats are totally unable to stand up for anything or to anyone.
Dreamers, you better pack your bags and figure out where you are going to go as you will receive nothing but lip service from Democrats.
6
Democratic cowardice is continuing disappointment, but never a surprise.
Schumer may as well get on his knees and kiss Trump's shoes.
Quislings.
9
What about CHIP???
4
It was included in the Republicans bill.
1
Democrats failed to listen to their base once more, repeating the blunder of 2016 by believing that the purity of an ideological moment was a guarantee of success.
For all the talk of how stupid Trump is, it is astonishing that the Democrats continue to impersonate the Three Stooges. Thank heaven they saw the light before doing any further harm to their prospects in 2018.
6
What "group" promised Reagan that if he signed an amnesty bill for the then 3 million illegal aliens "this group" would certainly keep their promise of a stronger southern border. They lied then and will lie now. Do not trust them, secure the border now, no chain immigration now, make E-verify mandatory now then discuss DACA.
18
Ending chain migration does a few things.....Propels an immigrant population to send their earnings to be spent in another country. Homes to be built in other countries, cars to be bought in other countries and other consumer goods too. You will have a migrant population with no interest in participating in the betterment of US society, its schools or other institutions. Immigrant families with children in schools (at least here in NY) are motivated and active members of the community. Over the long haul, you will see....There will be no Norwegians coming over to change adult diapers in a Florida nursing home. If you think that there are enough among the US citizenry to take care of a burgeoning elderly population, your census figures are off. US citizen birthrates will not keep pace. We'll be rolling out the red carpet for some caring Haitian ladies who will agree to care for grandma.
Greenfield - Have you read the government's estimates of the US money already sent to other countries?
We presently have an illegal alien with no interest in participating in the betterment of US society. They have violated US laws by living and working here, they may also be violating laws on identity theft and tax evasion. Not the type of people to better the US society.
Rewarding illegal behavior begets more illegal behavior! If the US needs "Haitian ladies who will agree to care for grandma" the US will invite them to come LEGALLY!
"Oh what a tangled web we weave / When first we practice to deceive." Sir Walter Scott
Dear NYT, why aren't you telling us what exactly is in the CR that Congress will now pass ... ?
Because that's in the end what this was and is all about!!
4
Make no mistake, no matter what the Democrat party thinks, this government of mine is going to put a stop to illegal immigration or it is going to get sued into doing so. Other than maintaining a military, securing the borders of my country is in the top two of the responsibility list. Everything else falls pretty much outside of the government’s primary function and responsibility.
I look forward to having everyday legal Americans filing lawsuits against individuals that are in this country illegally. If the government won’t do its job I’ll do it for them.
6
Let's see how quickly McConnell and Ryan squander this chance to actually govern. I don't trust the GOP, especially with Trump changing his mind each time he hears a whisper or reads a headline on Fox, to accomplish anything. The mid-term elections can not get here soon enough.
8
Good job, Senator Schumer...
Looking at the couple of dozen most-recommended comments - which are running about 80-20 against you...
Confirmed for me that you - once again - made a practical and centrist move...
As I looked at my other favorite practical and centrist NY pol - Governor Cuomo - taking steps to keep Liberty and Ellis Islands open this weekend, on behalf of...
> Tourists
> Workers in the tourism business
It started me wondering whether a shortage of brains is causing a shortage of oxygen in DC - or the other way around...
Back home, you may lose some of the folks who were marching in NYC streets this weekend - but you'll gain as many who were working on the streets or in small businesses...
For clarity, have never been a Democrat...
2
A significant obstacle remains lodged in the White House in Stephen Miller, immigrant family member from Belarus, a nation rightly labeled by many western journalists as "Europe's last dictatorship".
2
The commentary I see that slams the D's says repeatedly "Democrats put illegal immigrants before Americans" or "before the military" or "before children". It's interesting to me (not) that phrase, "illegal immigrants", being used as _the_ way to characterize people who were brought by their parents to the US as children; the general tenor is that these children (now young adults) are nasty people who decided to break the law by entering the US illegally.
Why this choice of words? Doesn't anyone doubt that the intent in using these words is to dehumanize them, portray them as monsters (and therefore portray Democrats as monsters as well)? Could we perhaps simply refer to them as "ugly bags of mostly water"? (An old Star Trek description of humans from an alien's perspective.)
2
Now it is time to wait and see what happens.
Senator Schumer thinks McConnell will give a fair hearing and vote on DACA. No he won't. Schumer capitulated just when the Democrats had the President hiding in his bedroom, too scared to face the public. Why should Trump or any Republican work with the Democrats again? If they shut down the government on February 8th, they'll just wait them out again. The Democrats did nothing when the Republicans vowed to make President Obama a "one term President." They did nothing when the republicans denied Merrick Garland his rightful seat on SCOTUS. Civility in government is dead. Money and white supremacy rule. The Democratic Party used to fight for the downtrodden, but those politicians are long gone. They are now the Democrat Party and have just guaranteed Trump a second term.
3
The Democrats have never worked so hard for non-citizens. If they only worked half as hard for American workers they would have control of the government.
16
I’m always amazed when I hear someone from the White House, such as Sarah Chucklebee Sanders, defending the president from being picked on. It defies reality to think that this bully who calls himself president needs protection or cannot handle name calling.
5
Smart play by the Dems. Not necessarily a win yet but strategic. Most Americans are for DACA and CHIP until their own lives start to get affected by a Gov shutdown, then they will find reasons to not be so honorable.
4
Commentators are missing the real significance of today's agreement between Senate Republicans and Democrats. Both sides pledged not to use parliamentary procedures to block the Senate from voting on an immigration bill. This means the Republicans would need only 51 votes to pass an immigration bill, with the vice president casting a tiebreaking vote, if necessary. I predict that Senate Democrats will break their word and filibuster an immigration bill if they disagree with its provisions. Since the Republicans are in the majority, they don’t need to filibuster
The threat of a Senate filibuster is the reason the House hasn’t passed an immigration reform bill granting DACA enrollees legal status in exchange for enhanced border security, measures to strop future illegal immigration and a merit-based legal immigration policy.
2
Wimps, the Dems are wimps. No backbone at all, no wonder the GOP will walk all over them. This is a GOP delay tactic. More edicts from the Pretend King Trump while the Dems pat each other on the back. Since Dems are not feeling the heat from each order ushered out of the WH, we are left to defend our values at home. There will be no immigration plan because the GOP and Pretend King Trump does not want one and if they deal the devil is in the details. Power does corrupt absolutely, Dems cannot see beyond their pocket books. The GOP is laughing all the way back to their banks.
3
Now to get something actually passed that is not just watered down lip service will be the question. As Trump cannot be trusted and the Republicans want imigration reform to mean "kick em out and don't let any Muslims, blacks or browns in" my guess is that there will be a lot of debate, but again another impasse. So in March Trump will say, "I really don't want to do it, by my deadline is firm. I'm gonna kick em out and blame it on the Democrats."
Just ask Justice Garland how this is going to play out.
2
McConnell's pledge? Make me laugh.
4
As Howard Cosell would say, "Down goes Schumer! Down goes Schumer!" Some commentator said a while back that Mitch McConnell is smarter than all the Senate Democrats combined. It sure looks that way today.
4
This is a nightmare. Why would Democrats cave during this shutdown situation? They finally were in a position to force an outcome and get a favorable result. Now look at this. You've lost all of your leverage and negotiating power. Trump wins. The Republicans win. DACA and any meaningful immigration reform are toast. Democrats seem to have totally capitulated. Why? For a couple of tough campaigns in Red States? This is sheer weakness and folly. Just expect to see how the Republicans mow over you with a steamroller. Unbelievable.
4
"Mr. Shah said. “The views that the president is endorsing are his and his alone.”
..............
So none of Trump's senior or junior advisors maintained, endorsed or supported these 'views' before 'Trump thunk 'em up!?!?'
What a pleasant surprise it would be if the citizens of this country could believe anything coming out of the White House. The best we can do now is listen to what the White House says, and then recognize, "Well, that isn't true, so we at least know something."
2
In my heart of hearts I with the Democrats has held their ground and continued the shut down. Holding the Dreamers hostage (They were brought here by their parents) and the potential defunding of CHIP are immoral. The Chinese learned that wall building does not work. Illegal immigration has been tapering off for years. In my opinion there should increased monitoring of shipments (all vehicles carrying cargoes). They present a much greater threat to our country...and...Doing so has the added benefit of benefit of being enforceable in an unprejudiced way.
I am tired of our elected officials repeatedly kicking the can with their short term spending bills...and... as a Caucasian I'm ashamed of the prejudiced comments of our ill qualified president.
3
The Schumer Shutdown blew back on Democrats as they were outmessaged as poseurs who place the interests of non-citizens above workers, National Defense, and the regular process of appropriations and budgeting.
Chuck is a disgrace, and stunts like this will not bring voters to the polls for more of the same.
8
Yea for the end of the shutdown, boo for Congress, trump, Miller and Kelly.
What a travesty.
Once again the Democratic party folds! What will it take for Democrats in Congress to make a stand? Do they live in a fantasy world where Trump and Congressional Republicans keep their promises? Utterly disappointing!
3
The lead-in photo of Schumer being "all smiley" says it all. And, it makes me slightly nauseated. I sometimes think the Democrats are complicit in helping the GOP achieve their goals. DACA was a Trump created problem... and the GOP is using that as a bargaining chip in budget talks. Probably by a design six months ago. WHY can't the Democrats get that simple message out to the public?
It's really hard to get fired up about the fragmented Democrats when they could simply let DACA play out in front of the public. Let ONE "dreamer" be deported and then stand back and listen to the public outcry - and, let it hang round Trump and the GOP's neck.
Why has DACA become a Democratic problem? TRUMP CREATED IT! Let him own it!
The paralysis of government initiated by Gingrich's abuse of the filibuster in the Senate turned into a two-edged sword. Democrats used the filibuster to temporarily shut down government in order to force a vote on the bipartisan DACA agreement reached by a group of moderate senators from both parties. If McConnell brings this bill up for a vote it will most likely pass resulting in pressure in the House to also bring it up for a vote. Ordinarily, the Republicans would implement the Hastert rule requiring 50% of the majority party to approve before this could occur. In this instance, failure to bring it up would constitute rejection of a publicly supported bilateral compromise, most likely a major political blunder. Maybe, just maybe, our two houses may be motivated to start working together for the people rather than their parties. Let's hope.
These comments are disheartening. Yes, the spectacle at the White House is awful and I wish we had a competent government, too, but if all the people whining and moaning now had simply VOTED in 2010, 2014, and 2016, things would now be different.
In 1965 a little Spanish bungalow in Santa Monica might have gone for $25K. The same property is now pushing $3M. Why do we think our 1965 immigration policy makes sense now? Not even Canada, which could use some diversity, has an "immigration lottery." Don't confuse helping innocent Dreamers with things like the lottery and chain migration. If we wanted to be smart and not just moan, we'd deal on those things.
4
I'm all for compromise, but I am very skeptical that Mitch is going to keep his promise. We've seen this movie before.
1
And Schumer's ploy ends with the expected whimper.
The impasse caused by Schumer exposed the weaknesses of his democratic colleagues, making them look beholden to activists pushing for immigration reform at the expense of American security and the welfare of American citizens.
While Schumer will do his best to put a happy face on this outcome, the bottom line is that his gamesmanship was exposed for what it was: a political ploy foisted on the American people for no reason at all.
4
I feel as though I were just sold down the river. I can't imagine how my Dreamer friends and associates must feel. Now moving ahead toward a Clean Dream Act hinges on a promise from McConnell? The same McConnell who highjacked the Supreme Court nomination process for partisan gain? The same McConnell who led the effort to ram 100% partisan health care "legislation" through, without any Democratic input or participation? The same McConnell who told Flake and Collins whatever they wanted to hear, to get their health-care votes?
And now we trust him to live up to his word, in both letter and spirit? You gotta be kidding me.
3
Tactically this seems to be the best outcome for the Democrats; no Schumer Shutdown (inane but catchy) and Republican's are on the hook for acting on DACA in good faith or backing out dishonorably. But long term the issue of immigration can drive otherwise reasonable (but perhaps overly fearful) people to the Republican Party. The Democratic position is basically this: We would like to add to the ways in which a person can become a citizen of the US; For any child sneaked into the country who lives in the country for a period of 5 years or longer and commits no crimes beyond sneaking into the country, he or she will be granted legal status and/or citizenship.
I'm personally okay with acquiring new residents in this manner (although it does favor people with whom we share a border). But many would not, and many of those would oppose me for reasons not inherently racist. The question is, is this a position worth losing voters over? Immigration is not going away - we need it - so how it's managed is going to be with us for some time.
1
I have no trust or faith in Ryan, McConnel or Trump; never did, never will, and as reflected by their past behavior, I'll never need to. That said, I admire Sen. Schumer for his willingness to take one more chance with them. Sadly, trusting the untrustworthy is the best choice at the moment, in my opinion. I do believe that the shutdown was worth it (to show Democratic spine and muscle) and ending it will be worth it (to show Democratic compassion and understanding). I hope I'm right.
The political class has always framed immigration reform with needs of immigrants first and flipped the bird to the idea of tying "path to citizenship" or "legal status" to any meaningful enforcement, border and job protection.
If they'd had, Donald Trump would still be a Reality TV has-been.
5
This debacle was obviously a lose-lose situation from the beginning and both parties needed an off-ramp to get out from under the problems they created for themselves. Hopefully, they will now ignore the White House and all the chaos, the divisive voices from aids who have no business being in the discussion, the mixed messages from the president, and the ever-present media hype and start doing what they have been tasked to do...work together to solve problems.
1
My my, three whole weeks! Then we get to be subjected to the same ole accusations, threats, blackmail, name-calling, and drama all over again. When did governing become like being on the elementary school playground at recess?
Democrats, enough! Don't trust, and don't sell us out. Republicans are doing that all by themselves. They don't need your help!
1
Compromise is good, so it's good that the two parties are agreeing and ending this. Here's to hoping it'll pass the house.
Why is Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Missouri)'s motion to fund military pay during the shutdown not getting front-page headlines? The fact that GOP leadership nixed McCaskill's commonsense compassionate motion speaks volumes about how deeply the GOP cares (NOT) about our men and women in the military.
34
They'll quit when they run out of identity groups to take hostage.
This independent voter is absolutely underwhelmed by the performance of the Democrats in this mess. Apparently, they have learned nothing from watching McConnell break his promises over and over and over. They also have learned nothing from watching the liar in chief.
Democrats, if you want my vote you have to do better than this; you actually have to show competence and backbone. You just gave away the baby with the bathwater. You accepted budget cuts to vital programs and got nothing in return. McConnell is going to allow a discussion about DACA? Gee, that's awfully generous of him (not).
15
At least go down swinging.
1
And, in the meantime, McConnell et al will change the rules, again, so that by Feb 8th Republicans will be able to do whatever they want.
15
I hope so.
1
this is a smart move by dems. The idea is to get what you can get when you can get it. The republicans now loose if they refuse to aid the dreamers. Democrats now have the upper hand because they will have the people with them. Keep in mind the wall is clearly a giant waste of money even many republicans see this.
8
"Take what you can get when can get it." ?
How to get happy in America.
How did having the people behind them work on gun legislation?
"But on Monday, Democrats wanted more in exchange for the votes to end the shutdown."
Does this not confirm the democrat's culpability in the shut-down? Innocent bystanders do not have the power to make demands.
Clearly this is a dog and pony show orchestrated by both of these parties.
For well over 100 years now political power in this nation has bounced from republican to democrat to republican to democrat and so on.
Over 100 years.
And the result is... where we are right now.
Anyone who thinks that these two groups are not, together, the problem is playing the "My Team Is Better Than Your Team" game.
So who to blame? Blame The People for constantly and blindly giving the reins of power to these two groups that date back to the horse and buggy days.
So much for thinking outside the box.
https://emcphd.wordpress.com
4
Today is the age of quantum mechanics, and we can estimate that the edge of the observable universe is something over 13 billion light years away, Reverend. Do you think God is enjoying this show? Do you think it is healthy to project human nature onto all of nature?
The GOP can not allow a path to citizenship for "dreamers" as this would add many many democratic voters to the rolls. This only delays the enivetable since as it is their current and future offspring are likely democratic voters.
4
Ok,Schumer, if you have to negotiate with Republicans, go ahead and do it.
But never, ever, trust Trump.
11
Evil always triumphs. Yesterday, the Patriots made it back to the Super Bowl, where they will collect yet another easy win. And today McConnell and the Republicans rolled the Democrats, who gave up the fight for nothing in return, since they stupidly believe that traitor's lies. Good only wins in the movies. I think I'll go back and watch Star Wars, the original trilogy!
5
Republicans now have three weeks to prove that they are for everybody, not just their base. Otherwise, we go through this whole dance again, but this time the Democrats go in with an even stronger hand. Of course, a lot can happen in three weeks.
It sure is surreal to live in a world where how to get born legally is problematical strives to make its problems worse.
1
Who do you trust more: House Republicans, Trump, or McConnell? Please vote.
My favorite American Founding Father/Philosopher liked to say "Tricks and Treachery are practiced by fools who lack the brains to be honest". Next month, House Republicans will run to the exit doors and again prove to the American People who are paying attention that they are a confederation of fools. But there is a good chance, we may not even get to Feb. if Trump blows up the whole process so he can make a spectacle of himself at the State of The Union.
2
I still favor every congressional Democrat boycotting the SOTU.
1
I think Senator Schumer and the Democrat made a wise choice by averting a long unpopular shutdown while holding the republican leadership accountable. If the democrat are able to pull together a legislation to protect the dreamers and offer them path to citizenship that would be a huge victory for the minority party that they were not able to achieve during President Obama’s time.
5
Ryan made no promises! Also, it's not about trust. If you know the character of the individual by his actions or non-actions, why make the same mistake twice? "McConnell’s promises to Republican Senators Flake and Susan Collins of Maine for votes on health care and immigration in exchange for their support of the tax cut have yet to materialize." After finally getting up their courage on Friday, why would all but 18 Dems cave today?
3
Image. Democrats got the shutdown we needed to draw attention to the situations at hand. Now it's up to the Republicans to go against their nature and prove they're not the hateful crew they've been to date. If they don't, Democrats win the battle and rejoin the war as the favored.
Do you know the foxnews headline on this? "Schumer caves in, Dems blinked". After peddling the falsehood that the shutdown was Dems fault, now they peddle the narrative that Dems in addition to being obstructionist, as also weak.
And of course their viewers buy it completely. The right wing is no good at governing, or solving problems, or compassion - but they are par excellence in propaganda.
When will Dems learn to counter this propaganda?
6
Actually, it is Representative Gutierrez, Democrat from Illinois, who said that senate democrats "caved." That's the word he used.
1
This is why a stalwart like Franken quits at the first mumble of impropriety and every Republican abuser hangs on to the manhole by the fingernails as long as possible to avoid totally falling into the sewer. Come on Dems. Show some spine. This may play well on Fox & Fiends but the rest of the country needs better. Show up now. Show up in November. Stop being the Party of Nice.
Democrats caved, thankfully. DACA never should have been part of these discussions, DACA is not important enough to American citizens to have a government shutdown,
6
Ah yes, let the government open and remain on a CR.
That means, all NIH non competing extramural grants, will continue to be automatically CUT 10% because the government is operating
on a CR. Now that is a 10% on TOP of an average 20% CUT
of the originally requested budget. Hurrah, hurrah- this is why
more than 50% of American students choose NOT to pursue
a career in academic biological research. They see no future in a career
that is dependent on money from a government that cannot
fund itself long term.
3
What happens when Mitch McConnell breaks his word? Again.
4
Americans attention spans are short. Few will vote in November based on a shut down in January. We need MOCs who will take the morally correct action now and not act on political fears based 9 months in the future.
1
If I were a betting person, I'd place money on Mitch McConnell going against his word (which is worth nothing) within 24 hours of the final vote to reopen the government. Also this most recent Democrat cave-in does not open a path to citizenship for Dreamers and does not assure they can stay here with their parents and siblings. Did the Democrats learn nothing from McConnell's treatment of Merrick Garland?
4
It is impossible to negotiate with this Trump administration because they play dirty. Then they take credit for any results...win, lose or draw.
6
While they are at it, how about a clean reauthorization of CHIP. Don’t give those despicable cowards any more hostages to torture.
8
Funding for the CHIP program was included in the continuing resolution prior to the shutdown.
1
When asked about a path to citizenship, Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the Administration was interested in a permanent solution (poor choice of words that probably came directly from Stephen Miller) for the DACA recipients. She repeated "permanent solution" when pressed by reporters and would not explain if she meant citizenship or permanent residence without citizenship.
4
I've heard grumbling in California for years about so-called chain migration. Are we married to the idea? Why not toss that and the lottery system in favor of more restrictive policies in exchange for the Dreamers? The current system isn't a genius framework for the ages. Canada is much stricter on merit-based immigration.
13
The original ideal was to establish bilateral relationships that are civilized on both ends so that pressures to migrate (insecurity?) are relieved.
The original idea has had its run.
It seems to me from reading these comments people don’t understand how congress works. It’s not about the issues. DACA is just a smokescreen to keep the American public from realizing that all both sides care about. Getting re-elected and, if you are in the majority, keeping the majority.
They are all dysfunctional, liars and not to b trusted.
It wouldn’t surprise me a bit if they agreed on a DACA bill and Trump vetoes it.
5
"He did it!", "No, she did it!" "It did it!"
1
Fool me once - shame on you
Fool me twice - shame on me
Fool me all the time - I'm a Democrat
34
Democrats have made their point. Time to get Mc Connell to agree to put forward a bill on DACA in exchange for their votes now and then hold his feet to the fire so politically he can't refuse to allow votes because he doesn't like the way they might turn out or wants to an issue to blackmail his Democratic colleagues. Onus will then be clearly on him and the President and the Republicans if they then can't come up with a humane DACA bill that most Americans support.
3
They don't need to deal with the "chain migration" issue right now, because it doesn't even come up until the DACA applicants gain full citizenship.
We go through the same trauma three weeks from now -- what kind of deal is that? And can we trust any of them, Democrat, Republican, or Independent? Not really.
2
Folks, we'll be back to where we started again on Feb 8th.
Stopgap spending bills are fiscally wasteful. This is no way to run a government. GOP leaders throw their weight around because they have numbers on their side, but are pretty much hamstrung when it comes to governing. Trump's Jell-O leadership style isn't helping.
The Republicans posture they have all of February to work out a deal for the Dreamers, but in fact, they've had since SEPTEMBER when Trump/Sessions abolished the program. Oh, except rush through a sloppy tax bill, because the GOP sure do care about their rich donors. Such are their priorities.
4
Mitch McConnell, by failing to follow Constitutional procedure in 2016 regarding the nomination of Merrick Garland, proved himself an ever-untrustworthy counterpart. It's no surprise that the government shuts down under his leadership.
12
Let’s be real. A decision (negotiation) on DACA won’t get done in 3 days. It might get done by Feb 8th IF McConnell is true to his word and IF Dems are willing to cave on the border wall (and Schumer has already done this).
While the border wall is unnecessary, it seems that Dems and GOPers agree on this, as do most Americans. So it’s worth it to throw Trump a few billion so he can claim victory. As for the lottery and chain migration, even reasonable people should be able to agree that those need to be changed. The lottery is silly and unfair, and just because an individual works hard to earn a green card, that shouldn’t give him or her carte blanche to bring in all of their relatives and friends.
I say this as a liberal and a Dem. Citizenship should be earned, not given away. And the process to get a green card is not easy, nor should it be.
Make a deal so we can stop the GOP, Trump in particular, from saying that Dems are holding up a deal to support “illegal immigration”. We all know that isn’t true, but Trump and his ilk can spin that and hurt Dems come November. Get this over with asap. Today’s action is a good start for a notoriously-foot-dragging GOP.
3
This is yet another example of RINO Senate leadership buckling at the knees. McConnell should have demanded passage of an annual budget bill (at BCA caps) as the quid pro quo for negotiating on immigration. I hope the House has more cojunas -- I know Pres. Trump does.
2
I don't trust McConnell as far as I could toss former Gov. Chris Christie.
So now we're gonna rely on the words of Trump, McConnell and Ryan to have fair talks about DACA, TPS, etc...? Rely that McConnell can and will keep the Freedom (for whites only) Caucus at bay, and do the moral and just thing in a few weeks.
Really? Trust these deplorable legislators - McConnell, Cotton, Purdue, King, Ryan and most of all Trump - to keep their word? Why? What historical examples do we have to give us hope? We have none for Trump. And McConnell has shown his distaste for actual legislating that doesn't involve perks for the GOP Donor class.
McConnell's (on the floor) condescension as to what we citizens do and do not understand about this shutdown...makes me want to...better left unsaid. I understand it fully. I understand that we have duplicitous POTUS, and an enabling staff and party behind him. I understand that we have one party, the GOP for those not paying attention, not interested in social justice, but prefers a society where a certain class and color rule the roost. Where those with the money and control of its channels get to determine the conditions of how "We the People" get to live.
Yes, Mr. McConnell, I understand full well. I understand what you're truly about. I understand who controls you and your party's strings.
7
Why are the Democrats more concerned about illegal aliens than US citizens?
The "dreamers" need to go back to their countries and origin and apply like everyone else. Why reward the dreamers for the crime of their parents?
14
Another article with spin, imagine that!
The Left found out how disastrous their image became when they put illegal aliens ahead of U.S. citizens. Especially when DACA had virtually nothing to do with this bill.
When money and resources are used to support illegals at the expense of impoverished U.S. citizens, especially impoverished U.S. minority citizens, the Left can expect less minority support. Immigrants who go through the proper channels are incensed, and rightly so. Why should they be penalized by those who butted in line and came illegally?
To grant any kind of amnesty to DACA people, let alone their relatives, is a huge slap in the face to the immigrants who come to this country legally.
Spare me the "Bbbbbbut we're all immigrants" garbage. Remember, we used to use child labor in the coal mines, too. And remember Obama said "Elections have consequences". And you all smugly thought that was brilliant.
10
Schumer got suckered....again.
Naive, just plain naive.
The Donald will be crowing about his victory and McConnell will simply change his mind.
BOO.
6
What is a pledge? The Dems were begging for a way out of this mess. We are all embarrassed for them right now.
7
"The crux issue, it seemed, was whether the majority leader could be trusted to keep his word. Democrats have not forgiven Mr. McConnell for blocking the Supreme Court nomination of Merrick Garland for almost a year pending the election of a Republican to the White House. "
That actually is not an example of someone not keeping their work. From the day that Scalia died, McConnell said that they would not vote on a replacement until after the election, and he kept his word on that. I can see why they could say that they do not like McConnell for that reason, but the fact that he kept his word and did not change his position is not an example of being untrustworthy.
True, he kept his word in that instance, but that just shows he is evil and a traitor who refuses to uphold the Constitution. It says nothing about how trustworthy he is, which is he not.
The most expeditious way for the GOP and for Democrats to resolve this horrid impasse is to keep Trump out of it completely. He's nothing but a hinderance and an impediment to progress. He won't read the final bill anyway, unless it is presented in ColorForms fashion accompanied by a recording with sound effects. Trust that Senator Schumer will not give away the farm and protect Dreamers, and pray that McConnell keeps his word. TIme will tell.
First of all I hope the government in the end does not approve DACA. Its the wrong thing to do. If you are here illegally you need to leave. The reason its wrong to approve is we have a long waiting list of individuals who have gone thru the system properly who have waited for years for the rights that the democrats are demanding for their Dreamers. It is a utter slap in the face to all of those people who follow the rule of law. If some of these dreamers meet the qualification of what this country needs they can apply for a green card status. I think most wont get it because they dont have what we need as a nation. For that reason they need to go. We need to take care of americans and not foreigners who are here illegally. The democrats have totally lost their way. They no longer care about the citizens who elected them. They care about illegal aliens. Go figure what a truly misguided and out of touch party they are.
9
Now that Schumer has caved, illegals like Greisa Martinez Rosas are one step closer to deportation. What were they thinking? There were many ways to appeal for clemency that might have actually worked, but holding American workers and retirees hostage was never one of them. Besides, having big government Dem threatening to shutdown the govt was never really credible.
2
It seems like a strange way to operate the senate. Apparently the senators cannot vote for anything unless big daddy McConnell tells them it's OK. So we have a King running the senate and another King running the house. I assume that Congress members cannot vote unless given permission by Ryan. So we have our lame president ruling the WH, McConnell ruling the senate and Ryan ruling Congress. That's Democracy?
Even with Mitch McConnell's word, look to Ryan and Trump to sabotage the agreement.
1
What if Senate passes a DACA bill, but House refuses to pass it?
1
The Democrats agreed to end the shutdown based on promises from both sides of the aisles to vote on an immigration bill that includes a resolution to the DACA bill by a February 8 deadline. Both sides promised not to use parliamentary procedures—which include the 60-vote rule—to prevent the bill from coming to the floor. This gives the Republicans what they want—a chance to vote on an immigration reform bill that accommodates DACA enrollees while enhancing border security and implementing a merit-based immigration policy. The Democrats could not block the promised immigration bill from coming to the floor—even if they disagree with some of its provisions—without breaking their promise. The Republicans will almost certainly agree to include legal status for DACA enrollees, but if they concocted a bill that denied legal status to DACA enrollees, the Democrats could not invoke the 60-vote rule to prevent the bill from coming to a vote.
While I applaud Senator Schumer in his gallant efforts in addressing this never ending nightmare, I cannot believe this arrangement will be as beneficial for "the fate of the undocumented immigrants brought to the country as children" as both Schumer and McConnell as proposing. If this issue could not be resolved in the past few months, how is anyone to believe a productive, lasting and solid agreement will be reached in three weeks? And if by some unbelievable chance an agreement IS reached, what will be promised in exchange? We all know the special little perks that were included in the recent tax bill (drilling in Alaska which has NOTHING to do with it), so I can't help but wonder what will be lost in three weeks with this agreement? Politicians are not benevolent souls by nature. Who will benefit and at what cost to the tax payer?
2
The significance of today’s agreement between Senate Republican and Democrats is that both sides promised not to use parliamentary procedures to block the Senate from voting on an immigration bill. This means the Democrats cannot use the 60-vote rule to block Republicans from advancing a compromise immigration bill to a vote, even if they disagree with some or all of its provision, without breaking their promise. It will require only a simple majority to pass an immigration reform bill, with the vice president casting a tiebreaking vote, if necessary. The Senate 60-vote rule is what House and Senate Republicans say has been delaying a resolution of the DACA dilemma and immigration reform issues.
I am a 70 year old Canadian but I have watched American politics for 65 years. While our democracy grows stronger every day, I have watched the political deterioration of the USA and the economic deterioration of the USA since the 1964 GOP convention. The legitimization of extremism by Buckley, Goldwater, Nixon, Reagan and the words written by Karl Hess may have spelled the end of a country I once loved.
I believe that Ronald Wilson Reagan was the worst President America ever had and lead the way to a country that has no raison d'etre except for it being the richest most powerful country that ever was.
It was Reagan's administration with enabling by Democrats under Tip O'Neil that made high treason like Iran/Contra a venial sin.
Democracy requires opposition and a space in the middle where compromise facilitates not just fair but good outcomes.
As I watched the dialogue between Chris Matthews and Andrew Card this afternoon I understood why you have your crisis. You no longer have lines that you cannot cross. The discussion between Card who is steadfast in his demands for a top down oligarchy and the Reagan Democrat who believes only in compromise made me ill. I have watched as the only debate in the House was between the most extreme right and the right for 7 years. Mr Matthews had the gall to blame Pelosi and Steni Hoyer who really only keep their seats warm and are not invited to discuss policy.
Nixon won in 68 and it has been ever downhill negotiating with bullies.
4
Dreamers will get no citizenship. Durbin and Schumer ruined their chance. Trump will let them stay only if the other three pillars are met and insure there will NEVER again be illegal immigration that ends with those allowed top stay. Trump and America are winning again.
3
They caved. What a HUGE mistake. Trump wins. Vote them ALL out.
It is good to see the Republicans play hardball with the Democrats--it's the only thing they understand. The same playbook for immigration reform--make it difficult and strictly merit-based. No more allowing those in who go straight onto the government dole (and whom the Democrats figure will vote for them).
2
Democrats lost the messaging on this. I hope they learn from this as it will likely repeat in February. Instantly, GOP pundits were out there branding it "The Schumer Shutdown", all using that exact phrase and staying on message. Dems just rambled on and on explaining the factually correct history of the problem That sort of nuance doesn't play with today's electorate. And at least we got 6 yrs of CHIP funding. Get your talking points and branding message ready the next time you attempt to force this issue.
1
I'm OK with this, as a California liberal. We can't afford a backlash, we need to win 2018.
1
Did the Democrats just agree to a worse deal since we are at the same place as Friday before shutdown but without CHIP which Republican had previously offered?
I truly hope Mr. Schumer's words will be realized - that we will return to regular order and bipartisanship will prevail.
I wonder, though - what if someone is blackmailing Trump to be sure DACA doesn't get resolved? How would our Congress handle it if bipartisan deals continue to be reached and the President won't sign one? Will they continue to stand on the sidelines instead of putting a bill up for a vote?
For those who think that the Democrats have now abandoned the Dreamers
it should be reassuring to know that this isn't over. The CR lasts only until
February 8, at which point Congress will need to pass yet another resolution.
If Mc Connell weasels ( or turtles) his way out of allowing a vote on a humane
solution for the Dreamers, the Democrats can return to their initial stance.
As the situation stands now, the onus to find a solution for the Dreamers falls squarely on McConnell and the Republicans, assuming Trump doesn't
intervene again to foment more chaos and discord. If he does, it is time for the entire Congress to stand up for traditional humanitarian American values and for its own survival as a separate branch of government dedicated not
to the hegemony of a single party but to the welfare and future of the nation.
1
Do we not remember Merrick Garland? I am astonished that the Senate Democrats would wager the lives of Dreamers on the word of Mitch McConnell.
2
I do not think McConnell is to be trusted. He lost my trust back when he held up a Supreme Court nomination hearing for a whole year. But at least, CHIP will be set and Republicans can't use that against the Dems. And Dems will have to take a stronger stand come Feb 9 cause this is no means over.
2
I don't trust McConnell and I don't trust Ryan. They will not keep their promises.
That recorded message alone is a good reason to #dumptrump2020
2
That creaky sound you hear is the Democrats folding once again. They got nothing in return, except a promise from McConnell to negotiate DACA. In doing so, Democrats have pinned their agenda on the tail of the Senate's supreme gamer, who has made it appear he found a way to make the Democrats see reason (i.e., his position). It's never wise to negotiate with hostage-takers. Here's hoping Democrats get away with it. The hopes of a lot of undocumented immigrants are riding on their decision.
I'm skeptical I can trust this Republican Congress. But Democrats have two trump cards to play, pardon the pun.
1). Republicans can't go back on their word given their current standing in the polls.
2). They will have to vote their conscience and patriotic duty when Robert Mueller presents evidence for impeachment and convictions of this corrupt administration.
1
Mr. McConnell pledged Monday morning that he would permit a “free and open debate”
Does anyone really believe that whatever Mitch "pledges" on a Monday morning has any currency on, say, Tuesday morning?
1
There is no reason to be optimistic This band aid solution is only good for two weeks and we will be back here soon debating yet another shutdown and broken promises. The Mitch and Paul evil clown show with Chaos as the puppet master will continue. Only solution may come in November at the ballot box.
I am appalled at the photos of these guys smiling like this is some sort of success. This is not a success. Do your job folks and this would not have happened in the first place.
Schumer, and the so-called "moderates", obviously and ignominiously caved: McConnell promised nothing specific, just a willingness to talk. DACA is not part of his vocabulary or values.
That in itself tells us what the Republicans intend to do: nothing.
Yet Schumer jumped into this black hole, smiling and waving.
He did so, no doubt, to keep his "leadership" position--that is "DINO-ism" par excellence.
Schumer betrayed the party, should resign, and let a real Democrat run the show.
2
What is McConnell'w word worth? Why didn't the Democrats and concerned Republicans make him sign a statement that he would suppprt the Dreamers...not just agree to bring up the subject? I no longer believe in the "word" of McConnell and cohorts unless it is in writing in a signed pledge. And a promise that Dreamers will be protected not that "he will bring up the subject for discussion next month." It is such a shame that I, and many millions of others, no longer believe or trust in those who pledged to protect and defend the Constitution and our nation. They are like sheep heading for the cliff while bleating that all is OK.
2
Democrats lost the Schumer Shutdown once they realized the American people were blaming them. Trump and the Republicans win again.
1
For a minute there it looked like the Democrats had some spine. Glad we cleared that up.
4
Mr Haney is alive and well and representing Hooterville, KY in Congress, I see...
2
Take a deep breath. Most commentators here think this is Dreamageddon.
No, while I am skeptical that McConnell will keep his word, McConnell's statement is good enough for government work. The Senate has sixty votes for a good bill (not the phony Cotton/Purdue proposal to kneecap the Dreamers) which gives DACA youth permanent status with the option, just like other permanent residents, of seeking citizenship. The other stuff, the lottery (a dumb idea when it was instituted) the Wall, etc,.make the deal work.
No. Dreamageddon may be the House of Representatives where Speaker Ryan, because of the (Un)Freedom Caucus will resist permitting a natural majority of Republicans and Democrats to pass a bill regularizing DACA.
Of course there is an outside chance President Trump, for the Dreamers only when not against them, will veto his Wall along with DACA.
Question: Where are the churches and synagogues? This is one of the three most important civil rights issues of our times (the others, Voter Suppression and Sexual Harassment). Doing a Herod on the Dreamers is an evil act. Jews, Evangelicals, mainline Protestants and Catholics alike should find a weekend to talk about the moral stakes involved in their houses of worship.
1
Can't wait to do this all again in 10 days.
To dems: do you have that in writing, signed by McConnell, and notarized?
If not , don't bet your retirements on McConnell honoring the agreement.
This will be a reiteration of the annual Charlie Brown and Lucy VanPelt debacle. How naive can the Dems get?
2
Schumer is totally uninspiring. His leadership backed the Democrats into an untenable position both procedurally and in terms of political perceptions. Democrats are now in a lose-lose position after allowing Trump to get away with his outrageous termination of the DACA program - purely as a transparent tactic to have something to hold over the heads of 10 Democrats. One would have to conclude that he succeeded in doing just that, and that Senator Schumer doesn't know how to fight his way out of a paper bag.
I hope the Democrats are true to their word and work for comprehensive immigration reform which stops chain immigration, ends sanctuary cities, protects the border, refines the criteria for merit based immigration and enforces the existing laws. Time will tell if Democrats are serious or just playing to their far left base of open border advocates.
2
And in 3 weeks we will do this all over again. The word of McConnell, Trump, and Ryan mean nothing.
1
Ridiculous to even think of trusting these Republicans. The Democrats have caved yet again. I'm proud of my Oregon senators for voting no.
Given the constant lies of Trump (over 1100 and counting in one year), McConnell and Ryan, it's tough to watch this happen. Let's hope it is on record in writing, on video tape, and tape recorded. Even then, they are callous liars, so let's get prepared for the next shutdown.
Chuck Schumer is trying to do the right thing for government employees, but remember that the Republican leadership is mired in their own self-interest, narcissism and arrogance. They are on the payroll of dark money, so their word is worth nothing and they have no ethics at all. The choice was to get into the depraved gutter or put pressure on the Republicans to reign in their ruthlessness and mean-spiritedness.
1
They had to pass this or there could have been an argument that there was no money to send Trump and his family to Davos! And I'm sure most of Washington was looking forward to having him gone farther away than Mar-a-Lago. Now he will be in a place that knows how to serve caviar properly!!! Maybe he can pick up some pointers o "class."
This is the inspiring Democratic message that Schumer and Pelosi are now sending for the 2018 elections. That will bring surely out the voters.
“If you are a wealthy white male suburban US Citizen, then we may have your back when it comes to your concerns about the correct labeling of avocado dip.”
N.J. Democrat Senator's both voted no. Democrats are not the party of law and order. Holding the United States of America hostage over 800,000 illegal immigrants is nonsense.
The new Governor, Mr Murphy is also not a law and order candidate, by promoting illegal gateway drug use in N.J.
New Jersey is headed down a lawless society path. It will be like the wild west in N.J. Watch for local law enforcement to double their efforts , and up their game, they now have to watch their backs for gang drug activity that will try to flourish in the new lawless N.J. drug society. Driving on the roads will be difficult with a lot of impaired drug use drivers. Highway fatality will be a major problem in N.J. , do not let your kids ride their bikes in the streets anymore.
3
Wow! A whole two weeks of government activity! Guaranteed!
We're so lucky to live here...
Stumbling into the future is barely better than circling the drain.
"the message probably did not violate the Hatch Act, the statute that bars most executive branch employees from engaging in political activity. It certainly does run contrary to its policy, and therefore “would have been inconceivable in any other administration, of either party.”
Wait, it certainly runs counter to the law, but probably isn't illegal???? Typical Times, take a certainty and create doubt. Thanks Times
The Democrats need new leadership in the Senate.
2
Democrats caved, got nothing. Trump walks away without giving anything on immigration. The govt was shut down for 3 day’s b/c Dems wanted DACA. They got NOTHING. Liberals, I can’t hear you....
4
Well played, Democrats. Well played.
You've outed yourselves as the party of amnesty and open borders to moderates, and to your open borders extremist base you've shown you can't be counted on. In one fell swoop and over 72 hours, you've excited your opposition and depressed your base.
But wait, there's more! You also taught the GOP what works. The "complicit" commercial got a test run, and I guess it resonated. So expect more of the same; any and every TPS overstay, repeat border jumper, chain migrant, Dreamer, and visa lottery winner who does something repellent is now going to become a poster child moving forward for the Democrats' pro-amnesty, open boarders position. You should own it. "We're stronger together" may not have worked for you in 2016, but maybe you should try it again in 2018 and 2020 just to prove it once and for all. If that's what you need to drop the America Second and Make America Mexico Again propositions your party is anchored in, then so be it. It'll be fun to watch, like the Schumer Shut Down Cave-in was, or all of those tears at the Javett Center.
2
Sorry, but I don't trust Mitch McConnell. Why should I? The man has demonstrated time after time that he has no conscience and an unlimited capacity for hypocrisy.
1
I am so sorry that the Dems fell for one of the world's biggest lies: the check's in the mail.
1
McConnell can't be trusted.....In 3 weeks he will bend to his president's wishes. "A level playing field"? maybe if you stand on your head.
1
question is, who were the leaders here? Collins and Manchin, maybe.
but on the other hand, a few firebrands need to be pushed aside: the extremists and uncompromising (in a bad way) like warren, sanders, and cotton. ridiculous.
1
If no progress is made on immigration talks / DACA, then the gov needs to be shut down again in February.
The pathetic dem leadership has either learned nothing at all -after 9 straight years of republican lies & betrayals & obstructionism & unwillingness to negotiate & willingness to blow up the system to advance their own agenda- or, they are just utter cowards.
Giving up a rare moment of leverage to help DACA recipients and to draw a line in the sand, in return for......a "promise" by McConnell to have discussions about immigration in the future?!!
Nope, not ignorance. Cowardice.
1
Pretty sure Chuck Schumer wouldn’t be so trusting of Donald Trump, Mitch McConnell, and Paul Ryan if the obstacles to a deal involved Schumer’s biggest campaign donors Wall Street and Israel.
Democrats need out of the current situation. They are losing the story-line battle. Democrats care more about the dreams of illegals than they care about the dreams and heath of American children.
2
To quote an old Klingon expression: “Mitch McConnell has no honor.”
Democrats just gave the football back to Lucy.
1
Can we please have another vote, this one to just shut down the Executive branch?
1
One thing the Republicans had going for them was alliteration: “Schumer shutdown” catches the ear and is memorable. The Dems responded with “Trump shutdown,” which just doesn’t ring in the ear in the same way. It’s an ineffective copycat that suggests a lack of imagination. “Trump travesty” would have been far more effective, and it has the vrtue of being attachable to just about every aspect of the Trump administration. It’s got legs.
America for Americans first.
2
Right Now The U.S. government is close to reopening...
Doesn't the government have to close TO reopen??? [TIC]
I guess the Democrats don't really care about the Dreamers.
The fact that DACA is important enough in the eyes of my representatives to precipitate a shutdown makes me proud to be a Democrat. Continue to stand firmly for a more open, more equal and fairer nation and world. We need immigration reform because under the current regime it is too hard to become a legal immigrant, unless you're from Norway, or unless you're someone rich enough to buy into a real estate deal in China.
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Seeing is believing. Trump has learned nothing and is not likely to learn now. Republicans can't be trusted, they are anarchists.
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A short-term deal based on a Mitch McConnell "pledge." What could go wrong? This will all rev right back up again. What a way to celebrate Valentine's Day: broken promises.
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This list of Democrats who voted no on the stopgap mirrors that of Democrats seeking the 2020 presidential nomination.
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Does this remind anyone else of the parable of the scorpion and the frog?
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Best case scenario - McConnell keeps his word and this works out soon for Dreamers. Worst - and most likely scenario - McConnell is a snake in the grass liar and we're back where we are! The best part of the worst scenario is that most of the country will see that the Democrats were willing to trust and play along and when they are burned, McConnell's treacherous deceit - that he has practiced his entire career - will be on full display.
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Don't we start with the blame game with the GOP who control the gum'mt? There has been time and opportunity to discuss this as legislators of both parties to find consensus, agreement, on Dreamers, immigration, the budget, and so on. Instead of any results, a shut-down of the government happened. A re-run is scheduled on February 8. The only way the Dems can be charged with this disaster is that stand for the Dreamers, believe in other ways to arrive at a budget, and stand for their principles. Is the fact that the Hispanic population, certainly in Texas, and in other parts of the USA, is becoming the majority ethnic group the reason for this shout out about Dreamers and immigration? It has to be. The GOP talks about terrorists: the terrorists are NOT from Mexico and they cannot be grouped conveniently into a real segment, whether by country (Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, etc.) or by socio-economic status. Nope, terrorists in the USA are by and large disaffected and angry individuals or anti-government (like Trump and the anti-state folk). Our rhetoric has become splattered with spit and hate and lacks reason and thinking.
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People who are saying Democrats caved aren't paying attention to the details. The government is funded only until Feb 8, and if a deal isn't reached, the government will shut down again. In the meantime, they got what they wanted: a spectacle that feeds into the image of Trump as a dysfunctional executive, and which highlights the Republicans' inability to govern effectively even when they have control of all three chambers of Congress. A three day shutdown was all that was needed to prove the point. Leftist firebrands should relax.
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End the stalemate in exchange for "free and open debate?" What kind of a concession is that? What has the country come to, that one party "concedes" to do what should be done in the normal course of legislating? The implication is that the Republicans were blocking a free and open debate on immigration. If the voters of this country allow that to continue by reelecting Republican legislators, then they, too, would be blocking free and open debate.
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I am wondering what is going to be said in the State of the Union next week. How long the speech will be, and how blowviating and pontificating this guy is going to be. Since this administration has no idea what accountability and the rule of law means, it is going to be just another joke. I am sure most Americans are embarrased, which they should be. You lost your position in the World. There is no hope with these guys. The only hope you have is that people in this country will have come to their senses come November for the Midterms
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The Democrats were wise to accept Sen. McConnell's pledge on immigration. Because their distrust of his word has been so well publicized and because he apparently has made strong statements of assurance on DACA, if McConnell reneges, then he, nor the GOP, can never again expect any cooperation from Democrats. The Democrats behaved like grown-ups in this debacle; it is now on the GOP to do the right thing.
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McConnell has promised to negotiate for the Senate. Congress has its own wish-list, and that is Paul Ryan's chicken coop. Round and round we go.
Once again, it has been proven that if you are a Democrat, you are not a member of any organized political party.
For Shame, Chuck Schumer. I am so tired of you and your half glasses. We need a Winston Churchill to lead us out of this mess. Good god, what does it take to make dems have a backbone????
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Give them that lousy "wall" and elimination of chain migration and help the Dreamers. Why should we sacrifice everything for an immigration policy (like the diversity lottery) that is so screwy even Canada's is stricter? If you think that standing hard for chain immigration and the diversity lottery are going to be winners come election time, we might be disappointed again.
Winston Churchill is bad example,considering the genocide he brought upon the people of India,but I do get where you're going with this.
I do think it will be a non partisan issue of stopping Mr.Trump eventually,and don't think we're far from that point-he's caused far too much harm to the American people for it to be otherwise.It is just a matter of who's willing to lead the charge to stop him,regardless of their personal party ties.
The same money is making the candidate choices for both parties.
We should make it clear that this time, the Republicans most obviously own the shutdown and other bullying tactics to get what they want in the spending bill. If McConnell doesn't come through on his promise, we'll be back where we were before but with more Dreamers already deported!
I think that Democrats should have demanded a halt to deportations until the immigration issues are resolved, or at the very least until DACA is affirmed and a Dreamers act is passed.
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Call it what it is: hostage taking. And these hostages, having been taken once, twice, or thrice, are likely to be taken again.
The immigration issue has nothing to do with funding, and was inserted by Shumer to simply delay and obstruct.
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Much funding goes to "border patrol" and other immigration issues. I don't want my tax money spent this way!
We Democrats almost always expect the best, but please let's prepare for the worst. November!
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The House and Senate need to do there jobs if they can not get any help from the White House. This shut down did not have to occur, if the so-called had meant what he said on the 9th, instead of letting others tell him what he should think or do. It seems neither party has much trust in what he says, because it changes more than the weather in Texas. McConnell even said he wished he knew where the so-called stood on certain issues. The so-called should have to Mar-la-go like he planned, no one would have missed him. Except Sara Huckabee Sanders.
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I hope Senate Democrats have not just voted away their leverage to get DACA legislation. I don't think that there can be any trust in McConnell, Ryan, Trump, Miller, Cotton or any of the Republicans on immigration law. I hope the Dems didn't just bargain away the futures of 800,000 Dreamers.
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AMEN! We are ALL immigrants to this country!
I wanted another day off with pay but I am enjoying my day off.
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The Democrats had to trade DACA to reopen government because of the powerful rhetorical war waged against them by Republicans who said Democrats were favoring illegal immigrants over American children's health. Unfortunately, voters do not think very deeply believe this hateful, nasty rhetoric, and it might have damaged Democrats' chances in the mid-terms. It is critical that Democrats win.
That said, DACA is the moral issue of our time. Those who say "American children first" while deporting immigrant friends and neighbors to countries they have never known sound very much like Germans who said "German children first" while deporting Jews to camps. Democrats are the most honorable and moral people and political party; they have mercy on these innocent immigrants who are, in essence, American.
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Wash, rinse, repeat.
In another ten years there will be another 800,000 hard working people here illegally. They will all have a sad story to tell.
Immigration is a moral issue. Every new immigrant to the US is adding massive amount of CO2 to the atmosphere.
Our kindness today is simply kicking the can down the road. Those yet born will deal with the ramifications of your kind policy.
But you can pat yourself on the back today.
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There is nothing hateful about wanting to enforce our laws. Of course the DACA issue is a moral one, but Obamas proclamation was unconstitutional. The president enforces laws and not makes them. Trump did the right thing, revoking the proclamation and telling Congress to legislate the solution. Then Shumer decided to make it an electoral issue, pretending that Trump hates immigrants and then cynically inserted this issue into a funding bill in order to obstruct Trumps agenda and try to look heroic.
All Congress has to do is to pass a clean DACA bill .
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Sadly,I don’ trust the congressional Republicans. Mr. McConnell has”pledged” to do things in the past only to renege on his “pledges “. This is the man who refused to give a hearing to Judge Merrick Garland, President Obama’s nominee for the Supreme Court, who was entitled to Congressional hearings, essentially implying that the U.S. presidency is a three-year term. The Republican Congress will try to get away with as many violations as they are allowed to.
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Hopefully the light at the end of this tunnel is not an oncoming train.
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There are 3.5 million people in CT, and an estimated 8000 illegal immigrants enrolled in DACA. Our esteemed Senators chose 8000 illegal immigrants over the citizens of our state. We will remember this when elections roll around.
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...And the blue wave in Nov. will sweep away from office attitudes like yours which divide human beings into "Us, the righeous" and "Them, the inferior" and cause needless suffering. Some day, the idea of restricting where people can live based on their birthplace will be considered as abhorrent as racial segregation. That day can't come soon enough.
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What's your exact threshold for throwing blameless people away? I mean, if 8000 is to few to sacrifice anything for, what's your number? Ten? Twenty thousand?
Do I really need to ask what you think a out the history of arguments like, "It's just a few (insert name here), nothing to get het up about?"
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WHAT ABOUT PAUL RYAN'S COMMITMENT. Ryan won't bring this up for a vote because of the "Hastert Rule," and any proposal which will get the vote of the Freedom Caucus will by definition be unacceptable to Democrats.
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So the Democrats helped the Republicans to get out of the mess they created and got nothing in return. In this kind of situation, and with this kind of president that we have, “trust” won’t be the right tool to pick up and use.
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I feel Schumer's pain on this one. Sure, he knows they're all snakes on the other side, but he wasn't born yesterday. And, while Dreamers are my fellow Americans and they deserve better, I have to say it was dangerous business to set up the entire caucus as human shields for them. After all, our failure the flip the congress come November will carry more dire implications -- for *all* immigrants, people of color and women -- than anything that happened in this scrum.
It would surely be interesting to be a fly on the wall when Schumer and McConnell are *really* talking about the demented dotard in diapers at 1600. Now there's a tape that should only leak out.
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Ah yes, Senator McConnell worked the ol' Collins Compromise on the Democrats. Ask Senator Collins how that has worked out in exchange for her vote on the tax bill.
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@ hsmith8. I agree and even between Collins and McConnell it was
a wink wink situation, She was ordered by her donors to cave in
and knew full well it was a farce and then took umbrage when
people complained and played the woman card. What a liar.
We all know McConnell enjoys the game of fool the people.
And what the heck about Chip???? And why does the
recommended thing not work?? It has not worked or only
worked sort of if I punch it a lot of times.
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I suggest that the next time budget discussions are on the table, Democrats tie DACA and CHIP to raises for our military personnel.
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Great idea. Hold the salaries of people in the military hostage to illegal immigrants.
I so, so hope the Dems do that.
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I saw “Darkest Hour” last night. Part of the film dealt with Winston Churchill refusing to compromise with Nazi Germany and avoid all out war. He did not trust them, and rightly so.
In a way, America has been in dark times for a while. We are not at war, but it sure feels that way sometimes.
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And then from “global agreement” to global warming. it'll be great.
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Two absolutely predictable things happened today: the Sun rose in the east; and, Democrats caved in exchange for an empty promise to play nice from the GOP.
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I hope the Democrats told McConnell is not about keeping the lights on but what
kind of lights he wants to put in. Are they quickly going to solve the issues or will the 'Kamikaze Party' lead the Democrats to a black hole.
Hah! I knew the dems would cave. Shutting down the government for illegal immigration is a losing issue for them.
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If the Democrats want to control the legislative agenda then they should win elections to do so. Attempting to force the other party, which controls the House, the Senate and the Presidency (via elections of and by the American people) is a display of petulance by sore losers. Making matters worse is that the Democrat party was so ready and willing to wipe their feet on law abiding Americans at the behest of people that are in this country illegally.
Reminds me of the river of pink hate that was on display this past weekend.
When dealing with the “dreamers” McConnell needs to ensure they are not able to vote for at least five years if they are permitted to steal American citizenship.
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Oh by that behavior you refer to the Republicans right ? I'd say check your past history on that score.
As a natural-born citizen and a white male, I declare that when there is an immigration bill it should include that DACA participants have a path to US Citizenship. They are following the rules, so that they can legally work, go to school and not fear being deported to a country they probably have never known. The DACA participants would not be stealing US Citizenship, rather they would have a path to attain US Citizenship.
After a DACA participant becomes a US Citizen, the 15th Amendment to the US Constitution probably forbids any infringement on that Citizens' voting rights.
Because the Rs make a pledge, the Ds make a deal. The Rs set the perfect trap if they care to spring it. Break the pledge (plenty of practice, and no consequences for them, so that's easy) and the Ds look like (and are) total doofuses. Genius.
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Finally some bipartisan agreement....Schumer caved
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No. This puts the Dems in a stronger negotiating position as McConnell publicly pledged to have immigration debate. If it doesn’t happen, it comes back on the Republicans.
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That's funny Kathy
May I remind you that McConnell said this was needed if either side were to make any progress on their “shared priorities.” He may come to rue those words if he tries to pull a fast one on Schumer and the Democrats.
Unless that pledge is in black and white its like a Trump's campaign promise, worthless.
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McConnell pledged publicly on the record that immigration talks would occur. It’s back in the Republicans’ court.
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Schumer shutdown ends in Schumer blink, huh?
Not a good day for Dems or for the DACA beneficiaries.
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Not that it's necessarily a bad thing, but some days (like today) it seems as if the Dems are taking their marching orders from the Editorial Board of the NYT. If in three weeks they cave yet again without any real relief for DACA enrolees however, they might just as well quit politics and take up spelunking instead.
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Con Artists, McConnell and Trump tell Schumer "The check is in the mail"
The temporary re-opening should have only been until the very day before the State Of The Union Address.
Now Trump flies off to his filet mignon, assured of doing the Trump Rumba during the State of the Union Address with the government open. Then he can pull his diversion circus act once again. Playing cat and mouse with the DACA folks and playing everyone else for a fool.
We and DACA will be right back in the Trump psycho show after his State of the Union Address, where he will surely brag how he kept the government open. Good Grief !
Mitch McConnell is a thief. He robbed America of the Supreme court nominee that Obama chose. McConnell refused to hold the Merick Garland hearings for a year then installed his crony, Gorsuch in the seat.
After that treasonous act, how could anyone trust a Rat like McConnell?
This is a bad day for America. The DACA could have been saved !
Just take a look at Mitch McConnell ! How could the fate of DACA have been put back into this traitors hands? They were almost free !!!! We could have saved 800,000 souls from his, and Trump's racism.
The wall can be built after we receive the money from Mexico !
We could have saved the 800,000 immigrants!
All those who came through Ellis island must have tears in their eye's this day. Many tears in heaven today from those who built this country.
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Even when making a concession based on a public promise by McConnell, The White House, specifically Sarah Huckabee Sanders continues to denigrate democrats with outrageous rhetoric. This shows that Trump and his spokespeople have no appreciation appreciation on how to get along and negotiate.
If they continue in this manner the cooperation they so obviously need from democrats, and even republicans will not be forthcoming.
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Please pay attention! The government will open until February 8, 2018 unless there is a budget. The same budget that republicans could have gotten approve in August 2017. That is the first deal that has get done in 17 days. I would suggest that we should be prepared for another shut down.
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I don't trust the GOP Congress nor do I trust the president one bit. Heaven help us all.
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I trust that everybody yelling about the spinelessness of Democrats has a Much Better Plan (no, "We Must Unite And Stand Firm! The People Shall Speak!" isn't a plan), or at least plan to show up in November and vote this time around.
You may be disapponed in Hillary or whoever--but while they can't say it, I can: the woman who could've been our President, and a long list of Democrats and independents, has plenty of good reasons to be disapponted in US.
This mess wasn't on gerrymandering or Voter ID laws, as disgusting as those are. It wasn't even just Russian interference. This mess is on everybody who didn't vote, or voted for Jill Stein, or wrote in St. Bernie's name anyway, and spent months ragging on the Democrats.
Vote, please.
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sorry we DID vote just not for the candidate we wanted or would have beaten Trump because it was "her turn" no matter the flaws or the obvious generational dislike for Hillary. The younger generation HATED Hillary and all she stood for, and institutional Dems had no clue or didn't care. I share some of their feelings but held my nose and voted for H - but would have vastly preferred Sanders. Now look where we are. The current crop of Dems are useless. What this country needs is a progressive party with spine and Grass Roots funding. Dems are well intentioned but are weak (see Schumer), corrupt (see DNC) and in a circular firing squad (see Gillibrand v Franken) Republicans are horrible but do a vastly better job representing their patrons interests and playing for keeps.
'This mess is on everybody who didn't vote, or voted for Jill Stein, or wrote in St. Bernie's name"
I am sure the gullibles who voted for Trump's lies had something to do with it, Robert.
Then there are the republicans in the electoral college who appointed Trump to the oval office, after he lost the election by nearly 3,000,000 ballots.
Why is that man Schumer smiling?
The Republicans want to shut down government and every time they do, they realize, "Oh, not good," and the Dems let them wriggle off the hook.
With friends like these Dems the Dreamers, the DACA folks and folks who need health care do not need enemies.
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Dear Claudia,
I found his big smile rather incongruous as well.
There is nothing in this agreement that could not had been accomplished before the shutdown.
What comes to mind is the iconic scene from The BIg Country when Steve Leech, played by Charlton Heston, insists on having a fistfight with Jim McKay, played by Gregory Peck. Exhausted to stand up, they call it a draw. "Tell me Leech," says McKay, "what did we prove?"
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I'm very happy this debacle is over. The two sides agree on a lot and I believe a deal on DACA and Border Security will be had. They need to stop playing politics and do what they were elected to do!
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Schumer and Senate Democrats blinked. How disconcerting. This make Democrats look weak weak weak. Once Schumer and Senate Democrats decided to block the CR, they had to hold out until the DACA issue was resolved. The fact that Democrats believe Republicans will keep their word to resolve the DACA issue in the near term, shows how naive they are. I don't understand the point of going to the mat and then caving. This only serves to empower Republicans and Trump and make them look strong.
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It is good that McConnell will allow debate and amendments on an immigration bill that address the dreamers. People's lives are at stake and a bi-partisan solution is the only lasting way forward. Of course, this doesn't guarantee that Ryan and the House will also allow similar debate and a vote. But it is a start.
The Democrats will get CHIP renewed for 6 years and February 8th is just around the corner.
For me, the one sure lesson here is that Steve Miller has got to go. He's a bomb thrower and is not serving the president or the country well.
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Dems had no choice. Shutting the government down over anything is not good. On principle, the Dems have a strong case, but it is inappropriate to shut down the government over it. It's the wrong lever. And, there is no way they can win the war of public relations on this -- they voted no, and it was about the lack of many things, including of immigration reform. Our uninformed electorate does not have the patience, interest or attention to fully appreciate the context of this shutdown. And, on the face, shutting down the government should only be done if we truly do not have the $.
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McConnell can't be trusted. He lied on the floor of the Senate. Again. And Schumer and the Democrats will extract no revenge, enjoy no retribution. McConnell will lie and pay no price.
The Democrats gave up their leverage and got nothing in return. Unless of course they wrap DACA around the the next budget resolution and shut things down but good until McConnell is brought to heel.
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Is there some longer term gain here that Schumer sees that we don't? I sure hope so but at the moment it seems like he and most if the Dems caved. McConnell cannot be trusted. Perhaps there is enough bipartisan strength and momentum to get DACA and CHIP done. I fear we're going to be seeing more definitive clues before the end of the days that the Dems were just played.
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Stop NYT. Just STOP. There was no filibuster. You're mis-using the term and not accurately reporting what's been going on. Choosing to not vote for something is NOT the same thing as filibustering a bill. Choosing to not vote for something isn't even "blocking".
It is incumbent upon the party in the majority to put forth bills that can garner the support they need for passage. If 51/100 people vote to jump off a cliff that doesn't mean the 49 are required to join them. If the republicans can't even craft a bill that can pull in southern *cough* dems" *cough* what does that say about the bill?
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Democrats cave again. They will get the blame for the shut down, without getting anything for it. Until the left has a party with a spine, our republic will be circling the drain of Glover Norquist's bathtub.
They finally listened to their base, over the least politically defensible issue, then didn't even follow through to win a legislative victory for it. Don't play chicken unless you are willing to throw the steering wheel out the window.
Now the "centrists" will be using this debacle to claim that this wouldn't have happened if they didn't listen to their base. But maybe they should have found something their base wants that would actually help most people, like universal healthcare, subsidized college, infrastructure, raising the minimum wage etc.
All signs say the Democratic Party is designed to lose, like a professional boxer paid to take a dive in the twelfth round.
The Republicans represent the .1% and the Democrats are supposed to represent the 99%, or at least 70%. How is it possible to lose 2/3 of all elections with odds like that?
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The Dems agreed "in exchange for a promise from Republican leaders to address the fate of young, undocumented immigrants known as Dreamers."
Good luck with that.
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Once again, corporate Democrats without a backbone have caved. McConnell is a proven liar, just like Trump. It's like saying ok when Trump invites your teenage daughter over for the weekend, and you trust him not to grab her by the..........
Any true Democrat, Liberal or progressive has only one way forward from now on; Bernie Sanders, and like minded people. Democrats no longer represent liberal ideas or the working class.
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Talk about missing the forest for the trees, why on earth are DACA, CHIP, the border wall or anything else even up for discussion relative to a short-term budget extension? How does the process even allow this? Why can't we create legislation that preempts shutdowns in the future by mandating that current budget allocations continue until a new budget is passed?
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I'm sure Trump will take all the credit for Congress acting responsible, but none for the shutdown.
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