Trump took away DACA protections and now he wants to give them back temporarily? No way! He created this mess by vilifying immigrants and shutting down the government. Let him make a real offer that everyone can get behind.
7
End DACA. Illegals come here with the hope their children can work legally when they come of age. Cutting that amnesty program goes a long way in reducing the number of illegals who flow to this country.
Expand the asylum restriction from Central American children to all people regardless of age or location. If they request asylum, they must do so from their home countries and they cannot enter the US until their request is approved. That is how it works with green cards and is how the US should address immigration in general - you are here with proper documentation or you are gone.
End "catch and release" as well. If you are caught, you are deported. Period.
7
The exceptionalism of the United States is perfectly revealed in its approach to the United Nations Convention on Refugees. The US has consistently attempted to water down humanitarian obligations recognized by the vast majority of the worlds' nations in conventional international law. What it has accepted, it often makes a matter of administrative discretion rather than law, making protection depend on the whims of administrators or the guidelines of the current President, whose compassion gene was left out at conception.
The final insult is in handing over policy reform to the likes of Stephen Miller, who would rather all non-Aryans just stayed home. Trump's fantasy is an immigration policy admitting only North European professionals.
Guess what Donald -- any intelligent German, Norwegian, Finn, Dane or Swede who emigrated to your USA would have to be certifiably nuts. You may get some Brits fleeing from what may be the only government in the free world more incompetent than yours -- or Parliament may instead give Theresa May her walking papers with a no confidence vote. The House of Representatives would give you one tomorrow if it thought it could get rid of you that way.
8
You know if the Democrats agree to TRUMP's deal:
DACA and the DREAMERS and present ASYLUM seekers
will be protected for THREE YEARS.
Why not take the DEAL?
All the DEMOCRATS have to do is WIN BACK the WHITE HOUSE from TRUMP who they KNOW is ILLEGITIMATE.
THEN, once in control of the WHITE HOUSE, and may even
taking back the SENATE, and therefore in control of CONGRESS, they can DO WHATEVER THEY WANT.
Of course, thanks to OBAMA, by supporting Mrs. CLINTON
as his successor, THE SUPREME COURT, and rest of the federal Judiciary will be filled with conservatives appointed by TRUMP----then Courts will then be able
to BLOCK DEMOCRAT AGENDA.
A replay of the '30's when the Supreme COURT
frustrated FDR's NEW DEAL.
As they say: THE TRUE RAP: HISTORY doesn't repeat itself, but it does rhyme.
Of course, maybe a real republican-democrat PRESIDENT can get elected who can
honestly represent all the PEOPLE of our diverse REPUBLIC---whether in BLUE,
RED or PURPLE states.
By consensus and fair dealing, as the CONSTITUTION intended----and even allows.
1
What I don't get is Republicans "giving" things to Democrats that they should also want. $12.7 billion for disaster relief? So, Republicans don't want to fund disasters? They like violence against women? They won't re-fund services for victims of domestic violence? Wow.
Simultaneously, they throw in things that they KNOW Democrats won't go for (or at least, Stephen Miller knows). Those asylum changes. Really? C'mon.
This whole episode is based on a travesty: holding government workers, and all who depend on them, hostage, to wring out concessions that you can't or won't negotiate for without a figurative gun to the nation's head. Given the horror stories coming out, and more to come if the shutdown continues, Trump is essentially a terrorist holding hostages. Since when do we negotiate with terrorists? Is it a situation where a difference in degree (it's 800,000 plus an exponential multiplier of affected versus a dozen or so hostages) becomes a difference in kind (this sort of hostage situation affects too many innocent people, just give in)?
This shutdown stuff has already gone on too long in our politics. Caving on this one will open the flood gates. Why sit down in regular order across the table when you can just wait until a shutdown situation looms and twist arms over the broken lives of Americans?
This must be a flaw in the human psyche, when even the greatest democracy the world has yet seen can begin to devolve into the rabid politics of a third world country.
12
The asylum regime is full of loopholes and loose-goose procedures and is widely abused. It was not intended -- and was never sold to the public -- as a large-scale immigration program. needs serious reform.
Of course, Dems want to keep the loopholes and loosey-goosey procedures -- and in so doing, are demonstrating once again that they are de facto pro-open-borders.
The world has seven billion people, rapidly approaching 8 billion.
Hundreds of millions of them want to come to the USA. And most of them live under circumstances little different from the Central Americans thronging through Mexico to the U.S. border.
But the USA does not need them.
Already, the USA has 330 million people, including well over 30 million foreigners here legally, plus anywhere from 10 to 15 million here illegally, and every year the USA bestows one million more foreigners with "green cards", the right to legal permanent residence -- plus hundreds of thousands more with a plethora or supposedly "temporary" residence visas that somehow get extended over and over again and become de facto permanent.That is plenty. The USA does not need more, least of all self-selected ones such as the ones claiming asylum.
7
Schumer's correct in saying that Trump is bargaining with stolen goods by offering to give temporary protection to the DACA recipients and restoring TPS for certain groups after he took them away. It only kicks the can down the road.
Also, at the same time Trump wants to make it harder for asylum seekers to receive protection. He offers to give with one hand and take back with another.
If Trump truly wants a deal he needs to offer a permanent, comprehensive immigration fix.
This should include a path to citizenship for the Dreamers which would include graduating from high school, performing either military service or civilian volunteering such as Peace Corps, and keeping a clean record. It also should involve appointing more judges to help process immigration asylum claims.
It will likely enrage the ultraconservative anti-immigrant crowd, not to mention the right-wing radio crowd, which would be a blessed sight to behold.
11
Another hilarious attempt of Trump and the Republicans to look like they are trying to compromise. For the Democrats, this isn't even close to being a compromise that the Dems would even think about. When citizenship for the Dreamers is offered, then maybe the Dems will talk about a wall. Until then, we're stuck.
7
This "compromise" was drafted by the Republicans with ZERO Democratic input.
It was just released by Republicans in the Senate, who OWN it.
It does a lot of nefarious things in the guise of "offering" something to Democrats:
It limits DACA to the people who have already applied (about 700,000), and cuts off all of those who would be eligible to apply but have not yet done so (about another 1.1 million).
It changes the asylum program by adding additional significant requirements and limitations (thank you, Stephen Miller, boy Nazi).
It includes enough "poison pills" that there is no way it will pass muster in the House, let alone the Senate.
Delusional Donnie claims to be a great negotiator.
Ho could not negotiate his way out of a wet paper bag, even if the instructions were printed on the inside.
Wait and see that Delusional Donnie turns out to be a "cave" man.
12
This is ridiculous. The government is shut because a bigoted minority doesn't want to face the outside world and inevitable demographic changes internally. If this same bunch is abused when the shoe is finally on the other foot, they will have no one to blame but themselves.
12
The immigration issue at its core asks the question: Are you a human being first and tribal (if at all) second, or are you tribal and only a human being second (if at all). All the rest is commentary and details.
This came up with the Irish potato famine, Jews fleeing Hitler, and now Central Americans fleeing violence and poverty. The history of the human race (not only Americans) on this issue is not a good one.
15
The United States doesn't negotiate with terrorists, extortionists or give in to Blackmail........this is what Bone Spurs, and McConnell have resorted to. Go back to the drawing board mitch. You guy said Mexico would pay.....Not TAXPAYERS. This shutdown is on your shoulders you can run mitch but you can't hide.
17
If Dems give 1 dime for this wall, my vote in 2020 is going to Trump. We need more AOCs and Tlaibs to deal with Repub terrorists.
2
@Har
Why would your vote ever go to Trump? He manufactures every crisis and then tries to win the cruelest outcome. Don't vote if you don't want to vote for Democrats, but please don't vote for the demise of our country by voting for Trump.
14
1,031 pages??
4
Sixty (60%) percent of Americans oppose building a wall along the border with Mexico latest polls say.
So why does the GOP with about 25% of registered voters in their fold decide they don't represent the majority of Americans?
11
The asylum restrictions violate our basic treaty obligations under refugee law and likely constitutionally infirm. The Trump executive branch doesn't care about the rule of law or the importance of our Nation honoring our word. If we decide we can ignore international treaties on refugees can we as a Nation be relied upon for anything? Are we becoming poor: military partners(NATO issues, Kurds), trade partners (TPP, tariffs/trade war), leaders for the greater good (climate change, attacks on virtually all federal pollution control, decimated state department and programs).
This shutdown is about power don't be deceived into thinking it is about immigration. Trump only asked for 1.8 in original appropriations request. The entire additional new request for wall funding of 5.7 was a stunt from the very start with shutdown considered a win. He used our military for a political border stunt in the fall. His willingness to ignore the unwritten norms followed by every prior president and his chaos bully persona are dangerous to what most of us see America as standing for in the world.
If you want to be cynical its a political stunt that was also timed to undercut the new Democratic House power before they could get organized with the added bonus of hampering both the Mueller investigation, the SDNY and hundreds of lawsuits pending against the Trump administration across all the federal agencies.
Congress needs to be the constitutional check on our out of control executive.
13
TSA and air traffic controllers please stay home, with our blessings. This cannot stand, all of you deserve better.
Until the GOP figures out that extortion, changing values and rules to suit their deficiencies, we'll continue this race to the bottom. For the GOP, it'll never be enough. Hate and fear are despicable but powerful tools of control. Our gov't workers are being pitted against people fleeing poverty and violence, how utterly depraved all in the GOP are.
8
These proposed measures add up to giving Trump what he asked for -- $5.7 billion. Trump doesn't care about the rest. No wonder a friend calls Senator Schumer "Chuckles" - after that well-known clown. If the Democrats sign on to this really awful "compromise" then they've lost a lot of votes for 2020. Just losing out on asylum protection is reason enough NEVER to vote for Schumer ever again. We need to get those freshmen representatives seasoned so that the Democratic Party is renovated into following its principles which have now been thrown away into the Potomac. I thought Trump and McConnell were bad enough. I hope the newly elected Democrats in the House hold the line and give Chuckles a drubbing he'll never forget. As the US-born child of immigrants I am as disgusted as it's possible to get with the US Congress. Drain the Capitol!
2
Dear Republicans, we are not going to pay a ransom of $5.7 billion dollars to reopen our government. Anyone who votes in favor of funding for Trump's wall will face the wrath of the voters on election day. And anyone who has stood in the way of the government reopening will feel our wrath as well. So go ahead, play your games, destroy people's lives because you're too slavishly dedicated to Trump and "The Base." You shall pay for it on election day. Or do you think 800,000 workers who are not being paid because of you will forget how you treated America?
13
Taking federal workers hostage and using them as pawns is reprehensible. No federal legislation, confirmations, cabinet or judicial appointments should take place until the entire federal government is reopened - no partial reopenings! All members of the three branches of government should not be paid until the entire federal government is reopened. Then we can talk compromise or more important legislation that respects the balance of power and honors the values stated in the US constitution. The government must reopen completely before any other legislative or executive actions can be taken, otherwise this hostage taking behavior will happen again and again and the balance of power created by the constitution will be destroyed.
7
I wonder if any of the Republican Senators will not vote for this bill. Many of them are up for re-election next year and some of them are in Blue States.
5
What I cannot figure out is how little the Republican party learned from the midterms. I know that Trump called it a great victory, but who listens to him beyond his shrinking 32% base?
California, New Mexico, Arizona and Nevada are not Republican gimees any more, in part because Latinos are wondering if the denigration of their ethnicity will continue if Trump wins in 2020.
The answer is simple, actually. Yes, he will continue the race baiting and reckless and bullying stereotypes if he wins. Probably with more intensity if his hatred is sanctioned once again by the Republican party.
9
1. "It would bar Central American children from seeking asylum in the United States, instead requiring them to apply in their own countries, in what the legislation describes as a program that “reduces the incentive for such persons to make the dangerous journey to the United States southern border to request asylum.” But Democrats and immigrants’ rights advocates denounce the plan as cruel."
Just as the sun rises and sets each day, so does the mindless rhetoric coming from Democrats who continue proving themselves as the party of open borders. It takes a special kind of stupid to oppose a program that would reduce the incentive for taking a long and dangerous journey, expedite asylum claims, take the pressure off Border Patrol, save taxpayer dollars and slow the chaos primarily caused by the idiotic decisions of our most previous so-called president who disregarded over three decades of evidence that rewarding illegal immigration only results in more of it due to his selfish political ambitions.
2. "This proposal would require border officials to turn a deaf ear to their desperate pleas and send these kids back to the very places they just risked their lives to escape.”
They could've made their "desperate pleas" to Mexico or several other safe countries far closer to their own that share a common language and culture. Since Mexico allowed them to pass through, send them right back across the border. Maybe then they will finally start taking control of their own.
11
@74Patriot1776
Worked on asylum cases for 20 years representing 70 countries of origin. Your arguments may make sense to you, but they reflect profound lack of knowledge of circumstances, causes and manner of flight of refugees. The proposal would change current law and violate treaties the US has ratified. It intends to change asylum law to exclude those migrants, many of whom btw do not come to the US, based specifically on the reason for their flight. And, of course, asylum seekers will not know any of this until it’s too late. There is no crisis that requires upending decades of precedent in this area of law.
14
The asylum laws were ratified after WWII, they may not be applicable to current situations or need revision. They are being exploited & gamed.
12
@Nickyjo
1. The causes of the influx from Central America are alleged domestic/gang violence, poverty and the previous president's soft policies towards illegal immigration.
In regards to manner of flight, they're coming through Mexico, refusing to claim asylum and willingly exposing themselves to violence on a long, dangerous and unnecessary journey to the U.S. How ironic considering liberals claim they're trying to escape it. Logic dictates that one enters and stays in the first and closest country that offers safety. Anyone attempting to claim asylum in the U.S. after not doing so is looking for something else (economic opportunity, welfare, etc.) and belongs denied.
2. The change in current law is well justified along with withdrawing from those treaties we should've never entered in the first place. The idiocy of doing so speaks for itself.
3. If their asylum claim is for any other reason than government oppression, it belongs denied. Lowering the bar opens the floodgates to billions of others across the world looking to use every reason under the sun to get a foothold in the U.S.
4. How many hundreds of thousands more "refugees" need to show up on our doorstep, create backlogs in the courts, not attend their hearings, disappear into the shadows, create chaos for government employees and cost taxpayers billions before liberals acknowledge there is a need for change in the law? Insanity is doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting a different result.
10
Perfect opportunity for the US to acquire a solid block of countries stretching down into South America... for the benefit of all. No force necessary, let them vote on it !!! We have the oil - we have the economic power. Of course they will want to join the USA!
2
If the Dems really want to get the government running before they negotiate on immigration issues, why not invest in TV ads that simply show Trump during his pre-shutdown meeting with Schumer and Pelosi saying he'd happily take responsibility for the shutdown and wouldn't blame the Democrats. No commentary necessary.
3
@Steve Teich Oh don't worry. Those commercials (and fund-raising mailers and e-mails and robocalls etc.) are all coming down the pike in good time.
The ads wouldn't budge Trump an inch right now, but in a few weeks they'll bring in a ton of money for the Democratic Party, all of which will be put to good use as 2020 grows closer.
This statute is unconstitutional on its face. It totally emasculates the
legal provisions of the law of asylum, as provided not only by the Refugee Act of 1980 but more importantly it is in the direct contravention of the 1951 U.N. Convention and Protocol on the Status of Refugees. This Convention was ratified by the United States . The Constitution provides in Article VI that treaties made by the United States shall be the supreme law of the Land.
10
@Mark Scher The asylum laws are being gamed. Many migrants can gain asylum in Mexico and refuse. They are given permission to work there and refuse. There is no reason the migrants can't apply for asylum within their own country.
Don't you know that many migrants skip their court date and disappear into the country? Let's get real here.
8
@Mark Scher
The Conventions can and ought to be renounced.
5
Don’t you know the actual numbers on asylum seekers that actually attend their court dates?
4
The issue is that Trump needs a win here for the base. The 5.7 billion is a token amount to claim he won, the actual wall is dead. The 5.7 B funds 200 miles of a 1900+ mile border with Mexico, it is NOT "THE WALL" it is 10% of the wall. The full wall at that rate of funding would cost about 50 B, something that both sides don't seem to be pushing to get much press.
That said, I'm sure he would be happy to take his 5.7 B and claim victory over "the evil democrats". A quick photo op at "THE WALL" (all 10% of it) to show the base the win and we move on.
What I don't get is why the Dems don't point out how useless 10% of a wall would be and thus how useless the 5.7 B is. I mean after all a house keeps you warm, but hey 10% of a house is just as good right? A car is useful to get to work, 10% of a car is just as good right? In fact when has deciding the minimum you need for something and THEN buying only 10% of it EVER worked? Last I heard, Trump claims we need a WALL along the entire border, why is buying 10% of it just as good? If it isn't just as good, why are we spending the money, partial funding is basically lots of cost for little effect.
Oh, and don't start me on how many of the people Trump says this will stop that don't pass "thru the wall" (they overstay a visa, fly over it, go around via coming through a port, ...). Yes you will never convert his base, but you can start to frame the "it is too much for too little" debate.
1
I congratulate Pelosi for turning the GOP bill down, because this is no deal, but an absolute shameless ripp-off! Frankly, Democrats would be crazy if they'd vote on it and I really hope it won't pass the senate. I'm aware this also means the shutdown won't end soon, but are Americans really believing there's still even an remote possibility for compromise and an offer both Trump and Democrats would be willing to accept? Personally, I don't think so because I think Trump doesn't really want a deal (nor the wall), but just loves the fight over it and has no intent to end it.
But what to do to end this shutdown? I think it's up to the American people. Sure, I know there've already been some protests, but not as many as I would expect, given the gravity of the situation with so many people being furloughed or having to work without pay. Even though Germans are said to be pretty stoic and kind of "protest-lazy", I'm pretty sure we wouldn't be willing to swallow from our government what American people are apparently willing to swallow from Trump. I'm sure if our government would try to pull off something like that there would be mass demonstrations and strikes. In France, there were mass demonstrations and even riots just because of rising fuel prices and a tax reform the French people didn't like. Of course, I'd never recommend violence, but I really think it's time for Americans to make your voices heard and protest against Trump and his shutdown, loud but peaceful.
2
“These are children who are often desperately fleeing terrible violence back home.”
Current immigration from Mexico and Central American countries is the result of political corruption and gang warfare in almost every barrio in Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras. However, many U.S. inner-cities are going through similar brutal situation (South Los Angeles, St Louis, Chicago, Baltimore, etc.) What border are the children living in U.S. inner-cities suppose to cross to find relief from desperate situations? What country's embassy are they supposed to go to claim asylum?
The reality is that Democrats are proposing "Open Borders" policies. They are using Central American children as shields to hide their true goals. There are better solutions, of course, but Democrats are not interested in solutions, they are interested in political power.
12
@F1Driver
Two different, unrelated problems for which there are different, unrelated solutions.
2
@Nickyjo Correct!
Let's find solutions for U.S. American people currently living in under-served, unrepresented, battered urban, suburban and rural areas. Let's find solutions for U.S. citizens and then we can move on to find solutions for people in foreign lands.
Revisit unfair trade negotiations with other countries, stop providing military security to other countries for free, eliminate onerous environmental regulations and reform immigration.
8
In what way is this bill a compromise?
4
I'm a life long frustrated Democrat who has lost confidence that my party can hold out on giving Trump his wall. From their past cave ins, it is almost assured that they will cave in again. It's just a matter of time that the marketing machine of the insidious GOP will win out as usual.
1
Asylum laws are abused. It has also become a money maker for religious groups , lawyers and charities . The churches are also just trying to boost their memberships and fill their pews.
It is ridiculous that decades after granting amnesty with the promise of securing the border the nation is at a standstill over keeping the border uncontrolled. Democrats are playing a dangerous game and will lose all momentum for 2020, no matter how reprehensible Trump behaves.
9
All the immigration lawyers, religious groups have made this a big exploitative business.
5
The announcement on Saturday and now this bill are designed solely to attempt to push blame to Democrats, period. No crisis solving, just a 6th grade trick to switch blame.
In addition, it appears Republicans are going for the jugular, pulling out every stop shirt of shooting immigrants
Sad
If Kentucky had only broadcast Schoolhouse Rock Mitch would not need remedial education
"I'm Just a Bill" is a Schoolhouse Rock! segment, featuring a song of the same title written by Dave Frishberg
McConnell is s fake as a leader and does not support American. He should allow votes on the single bills to open the government and if they pass and Trump vetos them override it. His priorities should be open the government not please our dear leader.
4
Exactly how much money are we, the American tax payers spending each day on these N'er-do-well Republican Congresspeople and their staff as they hold other important national security measures such as VAWA hostage and float legislation that they know won't be countenanced by the other side and so it's obviously floated for show?
Republicans shout loudly about personal responsibility and work ethic -- so where is theirs??
4
Go ahead, build a wall. A tall, beautiful wall, at least 100 feet high, and top it with broken glass, razor blades, and lots and lots of concertina wire. No doors or gates of any kind. Then take Stephen Miller and drop him, with just the clothes on his back, on the SOUTH side of said wall. Of course, you would need to have lots of news articles down there beforehand, with big close-up photos of his grim, hateful visage, so everyone on the south side of the wall knows who he is and what he stands for. I bet it would be a very interesting scenario, don’t you think?
2
@A Bird In The Hand
Miller deserves both scorn and pity. Strange human.
1
When the basis for the wall is so completely illogical it falls to the completely illogical corollaries to point to the fact that there is no real reason for the USA to continue its existence.
The deep state professionals who use real numbers and real facts to drive Canadian policy determined that Canada's population must rely on immigration to maintain its current numbers and economic health. The USA with the same facts relies on hearsay and political ideology to building a worse than useless wall while we forecast a 1% of current population per year net inflow to main economic and population each year for our health.
While we have a target of 350,000 new Canadians a year to maintain equilibrium America wants to slow population growth which is already a negative number by restricting immigration. My fellow boomers are reaching our expiry date and your "legislators" instead of figuring out whether 3.5 million new Americans are enough or even if 1.5 million might be enough are building walls that will barely subtract from the insufficient numbers that are entering the USA each year.
I have run out of adjectives to describe the level of ignorance that is driving American immigration policy but with our number one danger being climate change I guess the only Americans that are optimistic must be those hellbent on suicide. Why are you wanting to build walls when you are in desperate need of bridges?
7
@Montreal Moe We Americans wonder the same thing. Please remember that a majority of those voting did NOT vote for Trump. We saw through his bombast and bullying and ignorance. Unfortunately, our antiquated electoral college is winner-take-all in many states and that gave us Trump.
2
The president of Mexico offered asylum to the folks in the first caravan. International practice is that those seeking asylum are entitled to accept the first offer, particularly when they are already in country. No other country is obligated to accept them.
For them to continue north with the intent of crossing the US/Mexico border illustrates that they are past seeking asylum. They had that, then.
They are continuing to try for the USA for the benefits. Merely desiring a better life is not grounds for obtaining asylum.
15
True.
Part of the problem is that the federal government doesn't seem to care that white christian people, many of whom speak few words in English and understand even less come to the US on a tourist visa and never leave. But since they are white, they are assumed to be here legally by neighbors etc.
They take decent jobs from actual American citizens and those here legally, for example, taking cleaning or childcare or eldercare or construction jobs paying $20-60/hr. in Manhattan, that plenty of college or grad school students, recent grads, recent legal immigrants, people who don't have more than a college degree, Americans with certain disabilities, and furloughed federal workers would jump at given the chance (a lot of the job "announcements" interviewing, and hiring happens via intra-ethnic word of mouth).
These white christian European visa abusers live here because they "want to" and send their kids to public magnet schools despite the fact that their home countries provide quality public education including through even the most elite higher education anywhere in the EU. They are allowed to maintain American bank accounts and mortgages despite being here illegally and some have acquired enough to buy both an family-sized apartment and a vacation house in the Catskills. Meanwhile, other immigrants here with all the proper paperwork, some after serving the American people overseas, and (too) many born and raised here American citizens are homeless or close to it.
@Texas Liberal
Not necessarily true. A person can be denied asylum if they are deemed to be permanently settled in a third country. Also, you assume they know about the Mexican offer, that they didnt have family in the US, and/or other reasons they might move through Mexico.
1
This is the kind of thing that always blows up immigration discussions.
Pretty much any limit on anybody for any reason is objected to.
I pretty much reached my limit when those here illegally said it was "unacceptable" to be offered legal status and a path to citizenship that did not include sponsoring their relatives.
if our government is being kept closed because immigrant advocates don't like something--which can be revised at some point--that's a new limit for me.
13
@Talbot
I believe you are missing the whole point of the shutdown. What we need is just a continuing resolution of Congress which says all departments will be funded at their current levels until a later date in February. McConnell has said that he would not bring up such a bill to the Senate floor. The GOP is holding 800,000 workers hostage to Trump's demands for a $5.7 billion Wall or other barrier to be paid for by workers for the US government (and not by Mexico). I suspect McConnell has no idea how to stop an override of a Trump veto so the hostages can be freed. The 2018 election shows that the immigration policies of the country should be decided on a bipartisan basis and not the basis of one party thinking they can get whatever they want by holding American citizens hostage even if it makes no sense to most of the country.
4
When the left finally realizes that most of us living here in the middle of the political spectrum want restrictions on false asylum claims and illegal immigration - then maybe they will come to an agreement that opens back up that government. It makes Democrats seem like they care for the rights of illegal immigrants more than those of the federal workers. Given that $5.7B is a small percentage of the overall budget, give it to Trump with the caveat that it has to be used for border security and not just the wall.
The Zeitgeist in Western countries is strongly opposed to illegal immigration. Even if the numbers coming in to the United States are going down, the impact is cumulative. Illegal immigrants and their children are costing public schools resources and creating enclaves of poverty that no one wants. Why is it so hard for Democrats to understand?
Given the length of the government shutdown, if the Democrats were in the right here the public outcry would be tremendous. If they put US citizens first for once, an agreement would be reached within days.
18
@Louise white Supremicists are working hard to keep immigrants out of our country.
3
@Louise - You can characterize all you want, but that doesn't make it so.
The Democrats care for the country and the way government is run. Government is not run by extortion and hostage taking no matter the cause.
It's like negotiating with terrorists. If they know hostage taking works than that is what they will always do.
And the public outcry is tremendous. Its just that Republicans shut their ears to it just as they do to facts. Such as most illegal immigrants never crossed illegally - but on valid visas.
4
@Louise Building a wall will take a decade, and it will do next to nothing to stop the flow of immigrants from South America. The instant President Trump agrees to receiving billions of dollars for BORDER SECURITY that does NOT include an outdated, overpriced, ineffective wall, we can move forward with opening our government and protecting our borders with agents, drones, and other electric technology.
4
"As a added sweetener to Democrats, the measure also includes 12.7 billion for disaster relief, and would renew the Violence Against Women Act". Trump threatened to take money for the wall from disaster relief last week, so that money can't be guaranteed to go where it will do the most help, and withholding funds from VAWA just adds 50% of the population to his hostage list. This makes it seem like the Democrats are the only political party that cares about women and disaster victims. What Republicans call sweeteners the rest of us call effective governance.
23
What percentage of Asylum claims are denied, considered spurious? 80%? 90%? There used to be very few asylum claims, but now the immigrants are being coached as to what to say, so they can stop up the system. And hopefully get released. Just something else you can blame on Trump.
10
Who is coaching them? What credible proof do you have for your assertion?
How very callous and some Americans have become, having, by the grace of god, not had a war on their soil for more than a century (not counting Pearl Harbor or the rare German u-boat off of Long Island).
3
Immigration lawyers are coaching them with the right "buzzwords" .
4
A 1000+ page bill to re-open the government? How can that possibly be read, absorbed, analyzed and voted on in a couple of days?
It's almost like McConnell is deliberately making things difficult.
12
@W. Freen
how was it written in less than 48 hours?
Like Obama care was read by all members of Congress?
1
We should not tie the budget process to immigration reform of any kind. Congress needs to deal with the issue of immigration on a stand alone basis. This is nothing more than blackmail but is not surprising coming from trump-mcconnell.
14
From the time this country was founded, we have tried to shut the door on anyone trying to come here. The Germans, in the early 1800s who would spoke a different language and kept to themselves (according to Ben Franklin), to the Irish later in that century, the Poles, Italians, Jews, Greeks early in the 20th century, the Chinese Exclusion Act, etc., etc., etc.
This country became the leading economic power because it absorbed the energy, talents, and labor force of myriad individuals from all over the world, most arriving with nothing but a desire to make it and support their families. Over and over we opposed "them" coming here until "they" became "us."
When will we ever learn.
19
The people coming from Central America are poor, uneducated, Low skilled & not good future opportunities
3
@David
I take it you didn't read my comment, which included, "most arriving with nothing but a desire to make it and support their families." That was the case with my grandfather and my grandmother, who came with nothing but whose offspring became doctors, psychologists, social workers, etc. Should we have turned away all comers to this country since 1776 who were poor, low skilled, etc.? Most people throughout history don't want "them." Your ancestors, unless they are Native Americans, were probably the Latin Americans of their time.
Right now crops are rotting in the ground because there are not enough people to harvest them. Towns in the Midwest are reviving because of poor people from Latin America.
I guess you hate the Statue of Liberty, especially its plaque: "Give us your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free." Should we tear it down?
4
Republican compromise:
Step 1. I want it all my way. Why won't you agree?
Step 2. OK, that didn't work. My new position actually is worse in that it takes away what you already have. Do you want to continue "compromising"?
Why does it sound like the script from a movie where the hostage taker that asks for $1 million in ransom and then changes it to $2 million if you ask for assurances?
14
What part of "open the government first, then we can put any and all immigration items on the table to debate" don't the GOP understand? You don't hold 800K people hostage to drive home some hard line positions on immigration, even with sweeteners. Open the government with a timeline to close the deal and make that deadline have teeth - perhaps enforcing something neither party wants - like $5.7B for a wall and all dreamers get amnesty. If the Dems cave to this slippery senate overture, they have lost control of the beast.
13
The recent gasoline explosion in Mexico captures the immigration problem quite well. On the one had the people are desperately poor....so poor they dared to rupture a pipeline and collect gasoline. 100 so far are dead....with horrible deaths. On the other hand Mexico is fabulously rich in natural resources like oil. The fact that this wealth never reached the masses illustrates the level of failure of the best of the central American states (excepting CR). If we care at all about human rights open borders are not the solution. Integration of these states into the US is the only long term option. No one has to give up their culture. One can live fine in LA with only Spanish or Mayan already. That way the US taxpayer gets benefit from the natural resources. The natives get the benefit of better government, social security and rule of law. Wages can increase as US unions begin to organize. With US property law the economic boom would be spectacular. Open immigration otherwise is taxation of the US taxpayer without representation. It is open immigration as I can say that after six years working in Honduras with the poor I don't think I saw a single person not eligible for asylum.
1
Absolutely NOT. We don't need another drain like Puerto Rico. We might as well grab Haiti, too then.
3
@BorisRoberts
Not a bad idea. Haiti is another failed state and you already are financing their poor. There is a huge Haitian diaspora in the US. If you as a taxpayer are financing it why should you not be able to retire on oceanfront property in a Haiti that has US property law and is safe? And why should a poor Haitian kid not have the benefit of a US education, for example? Puerto Rico is a problem because all the young workers left for the US and left the old, inept and poor behind. Because they did not want to pay income tax they became second class citizens. That the US allows Puerto Rico to not be a state is a disgrace that penalizes the US taxpayer (think of the hedge fund billionaires who establish PR residency to not pay taxes). Taxation is the foundation of a just society. There are plenty of millionaires in Haiti who pay no taxes and they would be taxed if Haiti was a state.....hopefully heavily.
1
These people who can't even keep the government open because they're too afraid to vote on a bill that may cause them re-election next year. Why would you send a person like that to represent you?
14
Everything with Stephen Miller's fingerprints on it is fundamentally rotten to the core. This "compromise" bill is no exception, and I doubt that most GOP Senators were even aware of the asylum provisions hidden in the law.
15
As usual even in the case of an “offer” Trump and the Republicans try to change the rules as part of the “bargain”. They just cannot be trusted. Which is why you don’t pass legislation as part of an urgent shutdown measure. Legislation needs to be proposed written commented rewritten etc. it takes time to get LAWS correct. Like the urgent-overnight-tax giveaway to the rich and corporate.
8
you said it well
This level of incompetence is what delivers the downfall of governments, we should assume at this point, that this is exactly what the Republican Party in the USA prefers. Time to make for the exits or stock the pantry. Armageddon, must be what they think is good for the economy, or at least good for the 1% with houses in several countries and continents.
9
This would be like if I stole someone's wallet and then offered to give them $10 out of it in exchange for their iPhone.
16
There is absolutely no compromise coming from the Republicans. If anything, as this article reports, they will add additional restrictions for asylum seekers which don't exist today. They will never actually compromise & don't care if the government falls apart. The only way is to vote them out. 2020 can't come soon enough.
13
I asked an High School instructor forty to fifty years ago how the cold war would end. Would it end in mutual destruction by nuclear weapons. No, he said. It would end by the former Soviet Union becoming more like us, and the United States becoming more like the Soviet Union.
Moving the Berlin Wall to our Southern Border fulfills that sage advice so long ago.
9
“That decision by the court significantly devalued Mr. Trump’s overture to Democrats resisting wall funding.”
This should be the top headline today: the SCOTUS decision effectively kills any pretense of “compromise” in both the bill and the President’s offer. Without a significant change in GOP strategy, the ongoing shutdown is entirely theirs to own.
9
Allowing minors to apply for asylum in their home or other countries is a good thing - better than sending them on dangerous cross country trips with predatory adults- smugglers and others. I cannot understand why we would sustain a system that continues to use children as incentives for illegal immigration since it seems “easier” to get past CBP. It may be an unintended consequence - but it’s still a real consequence.
10
The immigrants go to the US looking for a better life, this means to work in those places where Americans don’t want to work. I’ve known many of my countrymen that went to the US to do that, and in the process they knew other people from other countries with similar conditions.
I don’t understand the hate that the President, his cronies and the people who voted for him are so preoccupied by the immigration. Isn’t that a good thing for the United States Economy? What if one of those children would become a great engineer or architect?
Having 800.000 workers without payment is outrageous.
5
Alvaro, the problem is, coming in illegally, we don't know who they are, whether they are criminals, mentally Ill, drug dealers, drug users or even just completely normal people. Also, there is a set process to come into this country legally. How does YOUR country deal with illegal aliens, do they just step back and let them do whatever they feel like doing, or do they throw them out. And how fair is it for all the people world wide, that have applied to emigrate here, and are waiting their turn?
5
This is not legislating. It is government by extortion. If it cannot be enacted except under the duress of a lengthy government shutdown, it should not be made law.
15
This “bill” is, in several ways, far more harsh and punitive than the president’s unworkable solution.
This is Mitch McConnell doubling down and doing his master’s will in denying anything like a path to citizenship for asylum seekers. If they were from Scandinavia, there would be no question that their applications would be eagerly approved.
The president wants this to continue until Ronald Reagan’s prophecy becomes true; this “government is the problem.”
5
Why do Republicans insist on demeaning and degrading people coming from violence prone countries south of our border? Apparently they have forgotten that it was US actions that have caused the heinous conditions in El Salvador, Nicaragua, Guatemala, and Honduras. If we as a nation have no problem destabilizing and undermining legitimate governments, running covert military operations, and supporting undemocratic coups, we should hardly be surprised that people flee these conditions. These people are looking to the USA for stability and freedom. They come here ready to make a life for themselves. Anyone who thinks that a person in El Salvador is plotting how to get to America and live on our welfare system is a fool. People don't risk their lives to freeload off others.
5
Children can't open a bank account in this country. Why should they be able to apply for asylum?
9
Wow! That is a new threshold for asylum.
2
Dems, do not back down from this trumpian and mcconnell Shutdown, this is on them. In fact Bone Spurs said himself many times that Mexico would pay and that he would be proud to take full responsibility for a shutdown. Well have at it.
DO NOT BACK DOWN.
9
‘drawing fierce opposition from immigrant rights groups.’
I am sorry, but 800k families here are being held hostage by immigrant right groups who want amnesty and open borders.
Can we put our people over special interest please?
Our people deserve to have money for food over the illegals that immigrant rights groups favor, that should not even be a question.
12
@AutumnLeaf
Trump is the hostage taker and bragged about how proud he would be to own the shutdown...
quit lying to protect the Criminal in Chief of the U.S.
3
We need to restrict those claiming asylum. We have to many people here already who don't come the right way. It is not fair for those who have gone through the process to have illegals jump in line in front of them. Come on Congress do you job, protect hard working and tax paying Americans, not illegals.
8
Predictably stuffed with poison pills by this untrustworthy administration and its enablers in the US Senate.
Call it what it is: The Stephen Miller Immigration Restriction Act.
7
The seat vacated by Justice Scalia was held open for 10 months by Mitch McConnell. Which broke the Constitution, ignoring the norms and traditions that have guided selection of Justices of the Supreme Court. Mitch offered some vague, mendacious reasons, and the Democrats let him get away with not calling for a vote on Merrick Garland.
Mitch McConnell did this because he could.
Now the US Government is shutdown over a wall that Trump promised would be paid for by Mexico. A vote on the US taxpayer anteing up 5.7 billion dollars for this wall didn't come up when Trump had the power to get the funding from Congress he now says is so vital.
Only now, when the US House of Representatives is in Democratic hands, Trump demands the funding or he'll keep the government shut for months. Years, even.
I don't think the Shutdown has much to do with a wall. I think it is an exercise in how much power the Government has. The empty Justice seat was a tryout. Which worked. The Dems and the media and the public barely batted their collective eyelashes. Republicans didn't pay any price that I can see for the crimes committed.
So---here we are at Phase 2. 800,000 people out of work. If it keeps up that number will grow. Evictions will happen. SNAP benefits will run out.
Then, what?
Not about a wall. More about how much blood will be extracted from those who are suffering.
26
@Vicki The genesis of this is because, usually over the decades, Democrats have been the adults in the room in politics. Republicans know they'll usually cave when people are getting hurt, which says something about Republican callousness. They will enact things like trickle down economics, or adventure wars that are really nation building or regime change episodes, then Democrats are swept into power after recessions and military aftermath screw-ups, to fix what was broken.
Trump and McConnell expect Democrats to cave eventually, when the suffering goes too long and people start complaining that Democrats should again be the adults in the room. I hear that already, from many cable news commentators. It's different this time, though. We've learned that you don't give in to hostage takers and terrorists, because short term relief generates even more terror later; those who ply such tactics become emboldened and resort to them again and again.
This time, it's incumbent on the adults in the room NOT to cave. The Wall is immoral for more reasons than one, but one is that Trump created misery and then wants the price of relieving what he created to be a vanity project on the border that he can literally hang his name on. Gilded, of course. Let him get Mexico to pay for it and truly fulfill the campaign promise. 800,000+ now is terrible, but it will be 8,000,000 and then 80,000,000 if we set the precedent in stone.
2
Well, here we go again.
For a long time in American politics, Medicare, social security were considered the third rail - you touch it and you are a history.
Now, it is immigration.
And it is the third rail for Democrats only. Them and their backers are so adamant against anything and everything changing to our broken immigration system.
And many Democrats acknowledge that the system is broken.
If most of the foreigners begin their lawful journey to America - by first visitng our embassies for visas - is that an undue burden??
I might add almost all countries require you to visit their embassies in your countries if you need a visa.
And recent well publicized meetings between POTUS and congressional leaders, DHS officials and border agents - all folks in charge of enforcing our immigration laws are taking Congress for relief.
But, it's never enough.
A failed Senate debate last year on DACA is instructive. At Democrat insistence, the Republican Leader gave them a whole week of floor. A big time luxury.
Democrats could not even get a cloture on their own motion to debate.
Until sone rationality returns to thus issue - the shutdown is likely and must continue.
12
@Neil, thank you for showing the readers of the NYT another shiny object of hate--immigration. Your statement, "the shutdown...must continue...until sone (sic) rationality returns to thus (sic) issue," also demonstrates your apparent hatred of the truth regarding border security. Please enlighten yourself, perhaps by reading the following: https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2019/01/17/us/ap-us-ap-explains-border-wall-drugs.html.
Ain't you tired of the lies and hatred?
3
Trump stopped the daca program and the tps programs and now he changing his mind? Does this man have a mind? Given what Senator Schumer has introduced, a plan to open the closed agencies and government this gives the chances of the McConnell bill a zero chance of passing.
3
immigration deserves a sincere and transparent debate, but we should never ever deny 800,000 people their income and hold them hostage for president Trump to get his way. if democrats give in this time, it becomes the standard negotiation practice with Mr. Trump
114
@aj
Amen!
This is what happens when people who hate the federal government are put in charge of the federal government.
104
Just out of curiosity, why did it take so long for the Senate to get a "Trump-backed bill?" Did Stephen Miller need that much time to find the right toxic mix of anti-immigration policies that would likely be opposed by Democrats? You know, reframing the debate as between furloughed government workers and children from Central America. Doing something, even if it is wrong, is not always good advice.
41
The Senate passed a funding bill on Dec 17th without wall funding, and which they thought Donnie Boy would approve. They had two years in control of both houses to pass wall funding. Now, at the urging of the unelected Fox News cabinet members, they want to waste 5+ billion in shutting down the government on top of another 5 billion for a wall.
They didn't have the votes just the wall while in the majority. For Mitch and Donny to pretend this is a problem of the Democrats is just another brazen and ugly lie. This is GOP dysfunction in it's full glory.
69
@Ralph I love "at the urging of the unelected fox news cabinet members, they want to waste 5+bn in shutting down the government on top of another 5bn for a wall.
Every time Democrats talk about the so-called republican 'negotiations' these facts must be mentioned. How is it a negotiation when trump, mitch and miller get together and decide the ONLY legislation that will be brought to the senate floor?
I read another article today about trump's plan to reduce prescription drug costs, which in fact will result in higher prices for many. People who rely on name brand medications will be unable to afford the medicines they need and some will end up with no health insurance. All of this republicans proudly tout, will enable our government to save a million here and a billion there —- an amount not even close to what trump wants to blow on his wall. A wall that will not resolve any of the immigration issues he says he cares so much about.
Too bad trump doesn’t read anything. He might be interested to know the experts El Chapo, his fellow drug traffickers and our own FBI have said many times the wall won't have an effect on illegal drugs brought into this country. How republicans can go along with trump’s madness is beyond understanding. History will not be kind.
2
The most offensive thing is that it will not be taken up before Thursday. The Democrats could get some credit with the public by agreeing to take it up tomorrow.
6
No, the most offensive thing is that Donald used Federal workers as pawns in order to extort money from America!
Why didn’t the wall get FULL funding when the Republicans controlled Congress for the last TWO YEARS?!
1
What hypocrisy. Trump offers what he calls a compromise by retaining some aspects of DACA for three years. He thus reverses his own suspension. Moreover he adds significant restrictions to asylum seekers suggested by his luddite-xenophobe aide Miller.
Fortunately the SCOTUS has reduced his offer to an absurdity by refusing to consider the Trump administration appeal. Thus DACA is safe for the foreseeable future anyway.
This Trump "compromise" is a nothing burger wrapped in an invisible bun soaked in a secret sauce.
By showing his true colors he is making the Democrats case that his position is immoral.
30
McConnell is playing games, political games, that will not resolve the standoff.
McConnell thinks the Republican base will be fooled and he may be right.
But not the vast majority of Americans.
No negotiating with hostage-takers.
72
@Phil Carson
Or extortionists and Blackmailers.
1
There's a great cartoon where a Dem and GOP are discussing how to meet in the middle. The Dem takes a step toward the GOP, the GOP takes a step back. That's how this feels: the GOP moves the goal posts even further away and somehow calls it a compromise.
44
Both parties are holding government workers hostage unnecessarily. Immigration should be dealt with as a separate issue, & without all of the inflammatory rhetoric. It is not unreasonable to ask people with children to apply for asylum in their own countries. Republicans are correct in saying that many of the children & adults at the southern border are being exploited by traffickers. Whether any of these Central Americans deserve asylum is another question. Rep. DeGette claims they're fleeing dangerous violence, but this paper had an article in its travel section yesterday extolling 'beguiling' Guatemala. Which is it, NYTmes, 'beguiling' tourist spot or violent hellhole?
16
@C.H. it's like most places in the world if you're privileged and have money there's no problem.
7
@C.H.
Given your logic, exactly how are the Democrats holding government workers hostage? They have said they want to fund the government, then have talks about immigration, including the silly wall (that Mexico was supposed to pay for).
7
Nope, only ONE party is: Republicans! Why didn’t Republicans fund the wall completely when they controlled Congress for the last TWO YEARS?! Because they didn’t want to! Also, Donald has used Federal workers and their families as pawns in order to extort money for his wall!
NO deal with liars!
1
The more pain inflicted the more these people get off on it. There is no common ground. There is not even a semblance of common concern.
7
I find it very ironic that we keep discussing ways to curb immigration and enhance border security without one mention of our Central American policies that create the violent situation to begin with. This problem predates Trump by decades. U.S. support for brutal Central American dictators led to today’s border crisis. It's about time the NYT and other major media outlets made it the focal point of the conversation.
29
Fact: illegal crossings are at a twenty year LOW, have been for a decade. The biggest problem is people overstaying their visas...usually people from Eastern Europe!
1
It is completely wrong-headed, cruel, anti-women-and-girls, bad law enforcement policy, and a dereliction of duty for the (mostly male-led) Republican Party to hold women and programs/policies that protect them hostage and use them as a bargaining chip in an effort to manipulate Democrats.
Domestic violence impacts (and kills) Republican women, too, as well as women's other family, coworkers, neighbors, fellow congregants (remember the TX mass shooting during church services?), and service providers, to name a few.
Republican lawmakers out and keep all of these people at a higher risk of danger and demise by failing to reauthorize and fully fund the Violence Against Women Act and the programs springing from it. Shame on them for turning these people and their very lives and livelihoods into mere pawns in their game.
12
@Patriot
Modern research shows just as many man are affected as women by domestic violence, but no one cares about them as victims since they fit in the standard victim pyramid.
2
@neal which study?
2
@Patriot
What hurts women and girls is the violence, sexual and otherwise, that they encounter on dangerous journeys trying to get to, and cross over, the US border. We are creating this problem by incentivizing illegal immigration with catch and release policies which are substantially weighted toward children and families.
3
We have a rogue president that we (were)are not prepared for. No single individual in our government should have the power to shut the government down and destroy so many lives in the process. This shutdown is Trump's to own and his attempt to order McConnell to get a vote on their new offer is insulting. McConnell knows the votes are not there and Pelosi is not going to pay for an unneeded wall that Trump promised that Mexico would pay for. Again this is negotiating by threat. As much as we need a solution to the shutdown, Pelosi should not give in. But when you have a president who has no concern for emotions, hardship or sacrifice, there is no reason to expect Trump to give in. He wants his wall even though it will be far less useful than he claims. This is what we get when we give so much power to a president with no active checks on his actions. This is that one case in which the framers of the constitution did not expect; unwilling Republicans to take responsibility.
26
McConnell, while railing against Democrats, chooses to ignore the fact that he and trump have weaponized the 800,000 people (not counting thousands more contract staffers) who are out of work by the proud president. They both are a disgrace to public service.
Meanwhile, trump proudly continues his shutdown.
28
Kinda hope the Senate passes the bill so Pelosi can say, "Gee, sorry Mitch, I've decided it has no chance of passing so there's no reason to even vote on it. That's what the Founding Fathers intended, that if the leader doesn't like the bill, it doesn't get a vote. Of course, if you'd consider voting on all the bills we've sent your way, I'll consider reciprocating."
20
So “Kentucky Mitch” reappeared and saw his own shadow – I guess this means six more weeks of shutdown! Also, #WheresMitch won’t take up House bills to reopen the government that he says the president won’t sign, but is willing to pass bills in the Senate that won’t be taken up in the House? “Kentucky Mitch” might want to go back and retake 5th grade civics to learn how a bill becomes a law?
24
For a more detailed description of the calumny and con of Trump's "counter proposal" read Greg Sargent's op-ed in the Post, at https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/01/22/trumps-phony-compromise-has-now-been-unmasked-total-sham/?utm_term=.1403ea1b5043. Coupled with the blatant lies used to con Republican senators into voting to remove sanctions against Derapaska's companies, it shows that no one can ever trust anything the Republicans say. Not even "trust but verify," just "we're on our own, never trust a Republican, never vote for a Republican."
7
Senator Schumer and Speaker Pelosi need to make it clear that they will NOT negotiate with terrorists, which is what the GOP are turning into.
19
Trump, McConnell and the entire GOP are afraid of Coulter and drug addict Rush Limbaugh and Faux and Friends.
17
So, Steven Miller's sadistic fantasies get translated into Mitch McConnell's bill and they promise to temporarily stop trying to deport Dreamers. In exchange, they get to waste billions of taxpayer dollars for Drumpf's vanity wall and the right to erect giant No Trespassing signs from sea to shining sea. And there are three Democrats who would consider making a deal???
Seriously, how stupid can people be and still get elected?
14
Someone needs to tell Miller and McConnell that the USA is not a gated community for whites only.
21
The repugnant Senate Republicans, who are already 5 weeks late getting off their duffs to resolve the obvious -- reopening the government -- just can't let well enough alone without figuring out a way to mess it up with their dirty disgraceful little prejudiced minds.
Here these Deplorables are, at what should be the 11th hour of Trump's shameful government shutdown -- a time for Americans to rejoice in its imminent end -- and still the GOP insists on trampling immigrants.
More than inhumane, these Republicans (the lot of them, rich stuck-up blowhards) are UNAMERICAN.
11
Both Houses of Congress need rule changes that democratize their procedures. That's vital to overcoming polarized partisan paralysis. The majority of voting members of the entire body, not party leaders of the majority party, should be able to bring legislation forward for discussion, amendment and votes. A day a week should be devoted to permitting individual members to bring forward for discussion and votes what, in Canada's parliamentary system, we call "private members' bills".
Reform-minded members from both parties should be advocating for democratic rules in order to empower rank and file members and encourage cross-party coalitions who could forge legislative compromises in ways they cannot do now.
It's interesting that the "backbench" members of the UK parliament, the midst of the Brexit impasse, are urgently working in informal cross-party meetings to devise ways to take back power from the Conservative government in order to consider and vote for alternatives that PM May has blocked, despite the resounding defeat of her own Brexit deal. Watch what happens before March 29 -- exit day. Britain's emergence from its grave crisis will depend on the success of this reassertion of parliamentary power. Similarly with the paralysis of the US Congress.
2
This is not right. Government workers come first for attention. Let's remember: the President took away the DACA agreement; he did not continue it from the previous administration. He took firm responsibility for shutting down the government. It's up to him to do this now and first of all. The shutdown is no one else's responsibility, least of all his advisors'.
11
@Ann Carman
Please - will you just stop with the true facts?
1
Did President Coulter approve this ransom note ?
91
Donald Trump, Steven Miller and Mitch McConnell continue to work hard to push over the Statue of Liberty and drown her in New York harbor.
Not only does the Republican Party want average Americans to drop dead from poverty, plantationomics, zero healthcare and and zero safety nets, they also want Mexicans, Central Americans and South Americans to drop dead.
Nice Christian GOPeople.
Remember in 2020.
137
@Socrates
Don't forget all the women and children and extended family endangered and thrown under the bus by Republican refusal to reauthorize and fund the Violence Against Women Act!
13
@Socrates What I remember is that the democrats were also in power when we supported a lot of the despotic puppet regimes in central america that led to the "crisis". What I remember is Clinton breaking unions and forming NAFTA. What I remember is that both sides of the aisle are part of the problem and neither one has made one mention of changing our support for these puppet regimes in central america that are good for global capitalists.
12
@Devin Greco
What people need to remember, rather than jaundiced historical viewpoints, is that 800,000 federal employee--here and now--are being held hostage to Trump's political publicity stunt, aided by Republican senators.
10
So, the Republicans' idea of a "compromise" is "give us billions of dollars in exchange for us partially releasing the DACA hostages we took, oh and we're going to take an axe to asylum seekers as well, just because we can".
This isn't a serious attempt at a compromise. It's something for the Senate to vote on to say that they voted on something.
108
@dmsilev, El Chapo’s in jail but laughing up his sleeve at the idea of 5 billion dollars for a wall. He’s most likely thinking, been over, under, around and through.
How much has this shutdown cost America?How much has the tariff war cost America? How much has the market fluctuations cost America? How much has lowering taxes on the rich cost America?
The Art of the Steal.
5
Congress passed and the president signed a bill in which no federal employee will lose their paychecks once the partial shutdown takes place. Yes, it is difficult for those who don't have a backup source of funds. And it is difficult for those federal employees affected by the shutdown and don't have the wherewithal to contact the holders of their debt.
I do find it alarming that many media sources ignore the bill that will make them whole once the shutdown ends.
Here in Denver, several of my federal employee friends have had debt payment relief from their credit card and mortgage debt holders.
While not happy, they feel that at the end of the shutdown, they will come out financially whole.
Trump may be a total jerk, but much of the financial concerns of shutdown employees has been overblown.
6
@Enarco You are clueless. What if they ask the lender and the lender says 'NO!'? Or they ask the landlord and the landlord says 'NO!'? Besides having no place to live and losing their cars, their credit score takes a big hit which costs them for years. And what about those who are working without pay? When do they have the time to contact banks and others to get debt relief? What about those with court orders to pay child support? They can't afford to hire an attorney and, if they don't pay, they face garnishment, repossessions and possibly losing visitation rights. And that's just the beginning...
13
@Enarco
Try asking for "debt payment relief" at the grocery store, or with the child care provider that you still have to pay even if you're not working. And, many Feds (probably most) have credit card limits - how much debt do they need to accrue without pay before they meet those limits or the creditors change their minds?
2
@Enarco Contractors working for the Federal government will get no back pay. They constitute a significant portion of the normal expenditure.
Some of these contractors may now break the contracts, and move on to other jobs. That would require a complete re-bid and approval process.
Salaried employees will receive back pay but the productivity loss is considerable and can never "be made up".
2
What a "deal"! Legislative ransom wrapped around a poison pill restricting migrant's rights to seek refuge. This why you don't negotiate with hostage takers, especially one named Trump. Let's do the right thing for the American people and their employees by having a "clean" veto-proof budget bill that will re-open the government and free the 800,000 federal workers being held hostage. That's the humane thing to do; and that's what the Constitution requires you to do in the face of autocratic executive overreach.
53
"It would bar Central American children from seeking asylum in the United States, instead requiring them to apply in their own countries,..."
This is a nonstarter-- who would be tasked with deciding who gets asylum? Experienced immigration judges? Or State Department employees, with little to no asylum law experience, who will no doubt be pressured to deny all applications? The Trump/McConnell proposal provides nothing in return for the frivolous (read: ineffective and wasteful) wall. The Dreamers would gain nothing from the proposed three year extension. They are ready have that from our courts.
The disaster relief spending should be a separate bill and should not be used as a bargaining chip. MacConnell should be ashamed for enabling Trump to hold the federal workers and disaster victims as hostages for his vanity project.
31
This bill would ensure that people applying for asylum from Central America get vetted appropriately like every refugee.
6
@Rocho
Applying in one's own country could possibly increase the number of applicants to the entire population of that country. Right now, only those with the energy, drive, and money to travel the distance get to apply. If you can apply without going anywhere, the entire country would apply.
1
Here's 5% of what you want in exchange for 100% of what we want.
No thanks. They're starting to squirm. NO COMPROMISE ON THE WALL. Trump said he'd be "proud" to shut down the government. Well, let's make him proud.
106
For now, the DACA is not a negotiating chip, if it ever was. Republicans have to find a way to get around the wall. Mitch abdicated his responsibility and therefore the Congress should be shutdown until Trump opens the government. All members of the Congress go home and help the federal employees in their districts who are suffering or volunteer at food banks to justify their pay they are getting.
28
Coulter-Limbaugh and their political representatives Trump and McConnell appear to misunderstand the viewpoint of most American voters.
Seems it will take more time for them to realize that basing a government -- and re-election -- on a minority (no matter how strident) is arithmetically unsound.
43
This is a complete waste of time, it has already been rejected by the Democrats and they cannot be pushed to accept it. What the Dems are doing is backed by the voters and the majority of America. Major damage to the GOP increases every day this shutdown continues. Best thing that could happen is the Senate GP revolt against McConnell and remove him as leader.
26
There's no reason to keep the government closed while immigration is debated. Open the government, and then figure out the wall, asylum status, etc.
61
Approve this bill & government will be opened immediately.
7
@David "Approve this bill"
I.E. eliminating the whole debate part.
5
@David
I think it would be better to first pass a law making it illegal to shut government down (partial or otherwise). Then each issue can be debated and voted on with transparent democratic procedures.
5
"... $5.7 billion for the border wall that Mr. Trump has proposed and large increases for detention of and removal of immigrants, as well as three-year provisional protections for 700,000 of the young undocumented immigrants known as Dreamers, and 300,000 immigrants..."
So, Mitch McConnell has incorporated Trump's Tweet (of the same thing) in a thousand-page bill?
Is the GOP obtuse or hoping the rest of us are? Oh, that Bridge Act isn't signed legislation and the GOP is quite aware.
Again, this is another insult to the intelligence and aninsult to government employees who actually believed there would be an end to the madness.
10
Dear Mitch McConnell and fellow Republicans in the Senate and House:
This is a silly, indeed ridiculous way to try to negotiate a functioning government. It involves trade-offs involving human lives and the potential survival of children seeking desperately to escape violence in their homelands. It is a joke, a sad, sick one. Please stop this charade.
Democrats cannot "give in" to Trump because he has made it all but impossible for them to do so. If they give in now, that would become the template for business with Trump over the next two years and it would be likely the government would be shutdown again and again.
The "Ann Coulter/Rush Limbaugh/Fox News" shutdown is causing massive pain and difficulties across the United States. While some new wall structures could be useful in some limited places along the border, the US government and Congress are being held hostage to a shouted campaign promise that should never have been made and, according to news reports, came out of Trump's mouth more or less by accident.
This is no way to run a banana republic, much less the richest large nation economy in the world. Someone is going to have to give in and my bet is on DJT because he had no strategy at the start of this mess and he has none now.
44
Only Democrats who live in right leaning states are capable of voting for immigration reform?
Does that speak to irrational hardening of the position of people on the left or on the right.
The majority of the population would like to see 700,000 DACAs get permanent legal status. Many people believe that giving them a path to citizenship will induce future illegal immigration, which is what the CBO concluded with respect to the famous bipartisan Senate bill under Obama.
Alter the agreement to permanent for the 700,000 instead of a three year extension, which is preferable to the current one year extension which will be reversed. SCOTUS is waiting for the case to get to them in the hopes that the political branches will address the problem, so they won't get blamed for the obvious conclusion that DACA is illegal.
Offer the $5.7 billion and give the president the option to use the money for physical barrier or better solutions, rather than dictating that not one dime will be spent on a physical barrier.
Clarify that asylum is intended for individuals who are being persecuted by their governments. Apply asylum claims only to children who are being trafficked. If they are arriving with an adult, particularly a parent, in order to be eligible to apply for asylum, the adult has to be charged for child trafficking.
How is it reasonable to apply a rule protecting children from trafficking and then release them in the custody of the adult who is the trafficker?
5
No, asylum is for people whose lives are in real danger, not just from their governments.
5
@ebmem
go back and read the front page scotus punted, not accepted this term. Lower court ruling stands.
American Ideals 1 Crybully 0 hip hip hurrah
2
This isn't a compromise. It's a non starter bill. Trump's using the shutdown as a distraction and a power play. They ran on the wall in the midterms and lost. Also, Mexico should pay for it, as he had his rabid followers chant over and over.
25
Mr. Art of the Deal is on a roll here. This winning is getting exhausting?
21
Just open the government and stop holding 800,000 federal workers hostage.
Discuss and negotiate whatever you want after that. Blackmail using our fellow Americans is abhorrent and must stop.
46
When will the NYT stop reporting the non existent horse race toward racist, child abusing, mindlessly stupid cruelty (Non existent because republicans occupy that spot and no one else wants to play there)? Come on, report that Mitch is not doing his job. Spending bills originate in the House. If republicans want a functioning government vote on the bills before you. You know the ones you unanimously passed by acclimation before Christmas. If they are veto'd (unlikely), over ride the veto. Government open.
23
Let's put the two big pieces of news together. First, Trump needed Putin to get his Moscow tower built, and Putin knew Trump was lying during the campaign. Second, the government is shut down over a wall that won't do what Trump says (and knows) and the Democrats won't fund because it is "immoral." So no end in site. Who benefits here? Not Trump. Maybe not Pelosi and the Democrats. Putin benefits. FBI can't pay informants or do a lot of its job. Other agencies are handicapped. The US looks foolish. Any winners from this state of affairs? My only question is in which meeting, the content of which he kept secret, did Trump get his instructions from Putin?
12
This bill encapsulates all the issues this former Democrat would like to see passed into law.
Becoming very frustrated with Democrats and their illegal immigrant advocacy; at least Britain and the British can fight for Brexit; how do we vote against liberals piling on illegal immigration.
8
@JRS
They aren't fighting for illegal immigration advocacy - the wall is not an effective way to solve the problem. And I suspect many companies who hire illegals don't want it solved, either.
10
@JRS
The advocacy is not for immigration it is for the way government is run. One branch cannot have a hissy fit (in this case the Fox News Branch that the originalists can prove is part of the constitition) and hold the government hostage till it gets what it wants.
You debate on how to solve the nations problems based on an understanding of what they are and determine the best way to solve them. You don't dictate solutions as the President wishes to.
7
@JRS
I'm grateful you are a former Dem, jrs.
2
Democrats should reject ANY offer that is not a clean, no money for Trump's border wall, deal. We don't encourage terrorist or hostage takers by negotiating with them. If we do, what will happen in a couple of months when the debt limit has to be raised? Right back to the same GOP mafia tactics; "Nice economy you got here. Too bad something should happen to it." Enough!
31
Why should I care what immigrant rights activists think?
This American, who those idiots in Washington (all of them, not just one side of the aisle) are supposed to be representing, have shut down the government over a lousy $5Bn. That's not even a rounding error in the Federal budget. $5Bn. is in the noise. Those idiots need to stop posturing at all of our expense. Give the President his $5Bn. and get on with it.
16
Give in to blackmail once and the blackmailers keep it up, right? Don't give in to this nihilistic blackmailer and his Republican Senate enablers!
18
@JamesP
The President campaigned on Mexico paying for the wall.
Democrats campaigned against the wall all together.
Either way, Democrats arent going to pay for a wall Trump said Mexico was going to pay for. Go bother Mexico for the money if it matters to you that much.
6
No. This will just happen again and again. The nation has stood for the asylum rights and human rights since WWII. That’s our brand that the GOP is trashing.
And unless you are indigenous, you are of immigrant stock. And if you’re not English, French or German, everything said about the current group was said about you.
2
Mr. Trump's latest proposal for a Trump Iron Curtain on the Rio Grand would abbreviate the judicial process of granting visas and asylum, hence abridging due process for the applicants, hence depriving applicants of justice. The Congress should not agree to such deliberate & intentional injustice.
At the same time, many federal workers deserve their pay. The Congress should agree on a veto-proof bill to require the Treasury to resume immediately paying federal employees according to their regular schedule, plus back pay for payments missed in recent weeks, plus payment for reimbursible expenses, without other provisions in the bill.
The Congress must take on the burden of applying wisdom to the operations of government, which means legislation must bypass Mr. Trump, which implies legislation must emerge veto-proof from Congress, which means GOP & Dem legislators must find agreement among themselves & express solidarity with each other as members of Congress.
15
@Daniel Brockman . "Iron Curtain." LOL. I'm fairly sure you don't remember the Iron Curtain. It was put up by Soviet Governments to keep their citizens from leaving, not by countries trying to protect their borders.
3
So now in addition to $5.7 billion for a border wall the Senate (McConnell) wants to add additional restrictions on how people can seek asylum (in a manner contrary to international law). In exchange they will grant 3 years of temporary protection for DACA. The latter only being necessary because Trump by executive order revoked an earlier Obama executive order which gave them protection. All of which is meaningless because the courts have issued an injunction blocking the Trump revocation order. Bottom line it is an even worse deal than what Trump originally demanded.
66
This is a great solution, will discourage people from making a dangerous journey north. Apply for asylum from their country.
8
@David - " Apply for asylum from their country. "
And if they die in the mean time all the better. Problem solved itself. Right? I mean, that's the point isn't it?
3
@David That's not how asylum works. And what part of $5.7 billion is a great solution when it will cost five to six times more to complete?
2
I don't see Mexico paying for a wall in this bill. If this is about Trump needing to fulfill a promise he made but couldn't keep while controlling ALL BRANCHES of the federal government for two years, then he needs to stick to the basic terms. Mexico pays. No funding for walls with US dollars.
95