Democrats Signaling They Won’t Force Shutdown Over Dreamers
“Democrats are loath to be pegged as responsible for shutting down the government”
In a move that’s sure to infuriate their base, Democrats are backing away from demands that a deal be put in place for Dreamers to get the budget deal done. It’s a dramatic shift from just days ago.
Heather Caygle and Elana Schor report at Politico:
Dems back away from brink on Dreamers
Democratic leaders aren’t going to shut down the government to save Dreamers in December.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi haven’t stopped fighting to deliver something on immigration by the end of the month. But they’ve subtly shifted their rhetoric in recent days and aren’t insisting that deportation relief be paired with a government funding bill this year.
Top Democrats’ retreat from demands on a deal before 2018 ensures they won’t get blamed for a possible shutdown and won’t upend Senate talks on a bipartisan deal combining relief for Dreamers with border security. Those negotiations appear to be gaining momentum and may well bear fruit this month, particularly once Republicans reach a final agreement on their long-sought package of tax cuts.
But edging away from a hard-line stance also courts a potential uprising from the left, as frustrated activists have long set their sights on a Dreamer solution this year.
“This is something that the president said he wanted to do. This is something that has a broad bipartisan majority,” said Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), a member of Schumer’s whip team. “Whether we get it done this week or next week, or this month or next month, I think remains to be seen.”…
Democrats are loath to be pegged as responsible for shutting down the government this month. And with Ryan and other leaders saying publicly that they have no plans to couple a legislative fix for Dreamers with spending talks this month, Democrats’ best option may be to push the issue to January.
If you want to know how significant this change is, consider what Nancy Pelosi said during a briefing just last week. When asked if she was going to keep pushing for a deal on DACA, she claimed God was on the side of Democrats.
Here’s what she said, via Grabien:
REPORTER: “Two questions. Back on DACA — have you changed your mind at all about being willing to accept some border wall funding or immigration crackdown funding within a DREAM Act fix?”
PELOSI: “When you say, ‘have you changed your mind,’ we said to the President the night he agreed to the DACA legislation that we have a responsibility to protect our border and we think there are many things we can do working together to do that and members have been working in a bipartisan way to address that. So, we’re not backing off anything, and including meeting the needs of protecting our border.
“We are not going to turn this country into a reign of terror of domestic enforcement, and have the DACA, the DREAMers pay that price. But I’m optimistic. I always have been. God is with us on this. Our country is great. We know their greatness springs from the vitality that newcomers bring to our country.
Watch the video below:
Featured image via YouTube.
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Comments
I doubt even the Dems are paying much attention to anything Pelosi says these days.
“… turn this country into a reign of terror of domestic enforcement.”
Right, so “Law enforcement” = “Reign of Terror”. Got it.
Even for a Leftoid that’s a pretty strange statement.
Oh, the Democrats figured out that the shutdown would be a total loser for them, gosh, common sense prevails.
They have to hide what they want to do until they get enough votes in the House or Senate in 2018. So…
– DACA will be soft-peddled. Illegal immigrants will only be talked about as children and single mothers.
– The slightest twitch in the direction of fiscal responsible budgets will be hammered as slaughtering women and children.
– The impact of tax cuts on millions of Americans will be ignored in favor of some specific individual (or two, in the Koch brothers) who saves X million dollars who they can use for class warfare envy.
– The economic growth will be ignored.
– The drop in unemployment will be ignored.
– Any other positives will be ignored, unless they can be credited to Obama.
– The homeless will be rediscovered, and the press will hammer “This fake economy that makes the rich richer while making the impoverished suffer” or some such blather.
– Every single sexism attack on a Republican will be blown up until we have Senators accused of things from back in grade school. (They got a good start on that with Romney, and his hair cutting.)
Then in 2018 if they get a single vote majority in the House, they will promptly impeach DJT. Doesn’t matter that they don’t have a criminal violation, or how transparent they are. Impeach, impeach, impeach, and to heck with the normal operation of the House. Impeach, raise taxes, and spend like drunken sailors.
Darn. A government shutdown would’ve been a great stocking stuffer.
Besides, that respite over Christmas recess might (might) give the GOP nitwits more time to sharpen their pencils, and eliminate the 105% tax bracket in this fustercluck tax reform reconcilliation.
Good grief.
Hoist on their own petard. This is delicious.
President Obama had his first two years to do something about immigration. He felt that Heath Care was a higher priority. When Al Franken became the 60th vote in the Senate, the Dems could have pushed through lots of stuff.
Dems will string the Dreamers along until they force the GOP to do something to help them. Dems cannot be seen by their special interests to be more concerned with other special interests. When you play the game of identity politics, you cannot please all of the identities all of the time.
I’m certain that President Trump does not object to the Dems causing a government shutdown. Imagine all of the recess appointments he could make? Imagine all of the prioritization of spending he could order because of a shutdown?
The same authority that allowed President Obama to erect steel barriers around the WW2 memorial (where no fence exists) would allow President Trump to do all sorts of things that make swamp creatures howl.
The Obamacare-gap (unaffordable, ineligible, unavailable, “born alive” penalty) is evidence that it wasn’t about “health care”, but rather finance, control, and democratic leverage.
The pressure from second and third-world nations, especially where Obama et al engaged in social justice adventures (e.g. opened abortion fields), recreated the trail of tears, and forced immigration reform, must be exquisite.
Reign of terror? A leftist revolution, and a moral/legal Pro-Choice doctrine to pave the way.
The Dems were never going to shut down the government, unless they could blame it on the Repubs. That is not going to happen at the moment, so the shut down is off.