With two competing bills to reopen the government, one Democrat and one Republican, going down in flames today in the U.S. Senate, it’s time for 78-year-old House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to step aside to let other responsible Democrats negotiate with 72-year-old President Donald Trump. There’s no excuse any longer to keep 800,000 federal workers out of work, simply because the House Speaker and President are at loggerheads. When that happens anywhere else, it’s time for mediation to split the differences. Pelosi has rigidly set the precondition that Trump sign the Continuing Budget Resolution [CBR] to reopen the government without one penny for his border barrier. Pelosi has ignored completely her responsibility of negotiating an end to the stalemate. Too many federal workers are hurting to dig in to her recalcitrant position to get back at Trump.
Showing that she’s not fit to negotiate, it’s time for senior Democrat leadership to take the negotiation out of Pelosi’s hands and put it into someone capable of making a deal. Trump’s shown a willingness to cut a deal, including reducing his demand for $5.7 billion in border barrier funding. It’s not OK for Pelosi to revert to old talking points that the government must be opened first before any negotiation can take place. Her position has locked out 800,000 federal workers simply because of her rigid bargaining position. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), a libertarian more than Republican, told Fox News Neil Cavuto Jan. 22, that Pelosi could meet Trump in the middle and end the government shutdown. Nothing matters now other that saving the 800,000 government workers from Pelosi’s feud with Trump. Democrats must take the negotiations out of her hands and give it to someone willing to bargain.
It’s only a matter of time before the polls flip on Democrats, with Pelosi refusing to bargain with Trump to reopen the government. If Pelosi and Sen. Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) didn’t laugh in Trump’s face on national TV Dec. 11, Trump would not have shut the government down. Trump asked Pelosi for good faith negotiation to reopen the government. Telling Trump that he must accept her precondition that the shutdown must end first before any discussion of border barrier security, isn’t a viable negotiating posture. Forget who’s right or wrong at this point. It’s a matter of getting 800,000 government workers back to work, not repeating old talking points getting you nowhere. Now that both bills failed in the Senate, it’s time for mediators to step in a resolve the issue. If Pelosi can’t do it, it’s time for some other Democrats to step up.
Whatever excuses both sides give at this point is no longer relevant. Democrats and Republicans need to submit to mediation to resolve any differences to get federal workers back to work. Today’s media is so polarized favoring Democrats, they’ve given the public a distorted view on how to resolve the current stalemate. Whether Pelosi or Schumer despise Trump or his border wall is also not relevant. Pelosi and Schumer can hold whatever views they wan on border security but a negotiation involves two parties compromising Both sides feel strongly about their positions, requiring mediators to resolve the differences. Who cares at this point whether Pelosi or Schumer like Trump or his border wall. Trump also must accept that he can’t get everything he’s asking for to reopen the government/. Mediators must split things down the middle, reopen the government and resolve the dispute.
If both sides wish to resolve the dispute, it needs to be taken out of Trump and Pelosi’s hands. Government workers aren’t responsible for political squabbles between coequal branches of government. Pelosi’s Jan. 23 decision to cancel Trump’s State-of-the Union Speech shows how far things have gotten out of hand. Whether House Speaker or not, Pelosi’s only one of the 435 members of the House, nothing equivalent to the president’s role as the nation’s only commander-in-chief of the executive branch. Arbitrarily deciding to cancel the State-of-the-Union, no matter who agrees with her, Pelosi has overstepped her authority. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) wants to reopen the government until Feb. 8, then negotiate border wall funding or anything else. Graham should call for mediation, not accepting Pelosi’s precondition for talks and repackaging it as a new compromise.
Chief Justice John Roberts should offer his services to resolve differences between Trump and Pelosi to reopen the government. Both sides have dug in too far at this point to engage in responsible negotiation. Pelosi can’t set an arbitrary precondition that the government must be open first before any negotiation on border security. However Pelosi blames Trump, it doesn’t resolve the 800,000 federal workers either furloughed or not receiving paychecks. There’s nothing political when federal workers can’t pay their bills. Refusing to negotiate with Trump is all about politics, not doing her job to meet Trump halfway to resolve the current stalemate. When you look at Pelosi canceling the State-of-the-Union Speech, it’s clear she puts political vendetta over what’s good for the country. Digging in her heels plays well to her base but it doesn’t resolve anything to reopen government.
