‘We’re headed for a showdown at the end of this week,’ Markey says
The Bay State’s Democratic senators are charging that Republicans are to blame for the looming government shutdown amid a bitter slugfest over immigration reform.
“We’re heading for a showdown at the end of this week on DACA, on funding for opioids, on funding for child health ... and the Democrats are not going to blink. We are going to fight Donald Trump every step of the way,” U.S. Sen. Edward J. Markey told reporters yesterday.
The deadline is Friday for a government funding bill. Many Democrats are insisting the bill include a measure allowing Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals immigrants to remain in the country.
“The Republicans control the presidency, the House and the Senate. If they want to resolve these issues, they can do it,” Markey said. “If they want to run the risk of shutting down the government, they control the government. It’s their responsibility to make sure we protect the dreamers, the child-health programs, and protect veterans, as well as protect the pensions of people in our country. All of it is on the table.”
DACA, created under former President Barack Obama, permits certain undocumented immigrants who came to America as children to remain in the country provided they work or are in school and meet legal requirements. Trump announced last year he would cancel the Obama administration’s executive order allowing DACA, but had repeatedly urged Congress to work out a new policy and voiced his support for the so-called dreamers, including last week when he called for a “bill of love.”
That push ended abruptly Thursday when a bipartisan group of senators went to the White House with a deal that would have restored DACA and increased funding for border security, only to be met with questions from Trump about why the United States should take immigrants from Africa countries and Haiti, which he referred to as “s---hole countries,” according to multiple reports based on interviews with attendees at the meeting, including Democratic U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.).
Yesterday, Trump lashed out on Twitter, saying, “Senator Dicky Durbin totally misrepresented what was said at the DACA meeting. Deals can’t get made when there is no trust! Durbin blew DACA and is hurting our Military.”
U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren responded: “There is a deal on the table that both sides have agreed to. If the Republicans decide to shut down the government in order to promote Donald Trump’s shameful policies, then shame on them.”