President Donald Trump’s Jan. 19 proposal to reopen government, offering temporary DACA [Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals], hit the skids today when the Supreme Court ruled [5-4] that former President Barack Obama’s 2012 executive order is still in place. Trump rescinded Obama’s DACA order in 2017, only to watch it overturned Nov. 20, 2018 in the San Francisco-based 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. Today’s Supreme Court ruling wrecks Trump’s proposal now making its way to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) for a vote this week. Trump’s has to modify his proposal since offering DACA is no longer relevant. Without offering Democrats something else, there’s little chance McConnell’s bill has a chance of passing in the U.S. Senate. Trump must give Democrats comprehensive immigration reform or watch his Senate bill up in flames.
Trump’s at loggerheads with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) since meeting with the him in the Oval Office Dec. 11, 2018. Pelosi and Schumer told Trump to sign the Continuing Budget Resolution [CBR] or get nothing for his border wall. Trump shutdown the government Dec. 22, 2018, leaving 800.000 federal workers in limbo, some 420,000 already missing one paycheck. If there’s no deal tomorrow, federal workers will miss another paycheck Friday. Pelosi and Schumer have refused to deal with Trump unless he reopens the government, something’s that prolonged the government shutdown now in its 32nd day. Without the “Dreamers” or DACA on the table, Trump needs to inform McConnell immediately on new concessions to get Congressional Democrats to support the bill to reopen government.
Pelosi’s already getting heat from moderate Democrats that want to end the government shutdown, due to the harm to federal workers but, more importantly, the U.S. economy. With global market selling off due to the economic slowdown, the U.S. can’t afford to continue pushing the economy to the brink. U.S. travelers and companies are already losing time-and-money on delays from Air Traffic Control and Transportation Security. Trump must offer something substantial, including a path of citizenship for the nation’s 12 million illegal aliens. With DACA no longer illegal, Trump must come up with something new for Democrats. Pelosi placed Trump’s Jan. 29 State-of-the-Union Speech on hold, citing the government shutdown and inadequate security. Despite the Secret Service guaranteeing security, Pelosi refused to open the House to Trump for his annual speech.
White House officials responsible for pre-speech planning contacted Pelosi’s office to get the green light, so far getting no response. With Trump and Pelosi at loggerheads over opening up the government, it’s doubtful she’ll extend to Trump an opportunity to speak to both houses of Congress. Trump plans to go ahead with the speech, regardless or Pelosi’s decision, delivering the speech either in the Senate Chamber or somewhere else. Growing numbers of Democrats have asked Pelosi to negotiate with Trump to reopen the government. If Pelosi acknowledges that the House will take up border security after reopening the government, the White House would be willing to compromise. So far, Pelosi has refused to negotiate with Trump, failing to acknowledge the president’s right under Article 2 to get border security funds to deal with U.S. national security.
Trump and Pelosi need mediation to end the current stalemate, something Sen. Ron Paul (R-Ky.) said could be resolved by meeting Trump down the middle. Setting preconditions and refusing to negotiate is not an acceptable posture when some 800,000 federal workers have been either furloughed or not receiving their paychecks. “We were optimistic that he [Trump] might open up the government so we could have this discussion,” Pelosi told CNN, continuing her precondition that Trump reopen the government or get nothing. “But then we heard what the particulars were in it and it was a non-starter, unfortunately,” insisting Trump reopen the government or get nothing from the House Speaker. Trump insisted since Dec. 22 that he receive $5.7 billion for his border wall to reopen the government. Pelosi needs only offer Trump guarantees that she’ll deal with border funding after the government reopens.
Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.), House Minority Whip, said he welcomed Republican efforts in the Senate to debate reopening the government. Clyburn’s openness indicates that some Democrats are open to the idea of negotiating and end to the government shutdown. “This gets us started,” Clyburn told MSNBC, seeking to end the government shutdown. Without some mediation by moderates like Clyburn, Pelosi will continue to exploit 800,000 federal workers for her personal vendetta against Trump. Pelosi knows that Trump’s $5.7 billion request is subject to negotiation, something could be resolved quickly. Instead of stonewalling, the House Speaker should stop setting preconditions and negotiate in good faith to reopen the government Giving Trump a few billion for a border wall is a small price to pay to end the misery of 800,000 federal workers currently caught in a political vise.
