Prez’s fake promises
McConnell: No DACA in bill
WASHINGTON — Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have learned a hard lesson about dealmaking with President Trump: take any handshake with a large dose of skepticism.
Trump’s hairpin turn to reject a bipartisan DACA deal that he’d promised to sign not only spurred a deep political divide on the issue, it also boosted the chance of a government shutdown.
“Tuesday we had a president that I was proud to golf with, call my friend, who understood immigration had to be bipartisan,” said U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) yesterday. “Now I don’t know where that guy went, but I want him back.”
U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) was more blunt, saying Trump “sandbagged” negotiations when he promised to back whatever compromise they struck for immigrants who were brought into the country by their parents, and even expressed excitement when lawmakers told them they had an agreement Thursday.
Two hours later, in a now infamous Oval Office meeting with Durbin, Graham and others, Trump rejected the bipartisan deal and reportedly profanely smeared immigrants from African countries. In the hours in between, conservative immigration hardliners, including Sens. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) and David Perdue (R-Ga.) as well as White House chief of staff John Kelly and senior adviser Stephen Miller expressed reservations about the plan, according to a Washington Post report.
“I don’t think the president was well served by his staff,” Graham said. “This has turned into a s-show,” Graham added, playing on the vulgar term Trump reportedly used during the meeting, “and we need to get back to being a great country where Democrats and Republicans work together to do something we should have done years ago.”
But the prospect of that happening as part of an effort to pass a spending bill faded yesterday. Lawmakers have until Friday night to pass a short-term measure to keep the government funded, and last night Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said DACA language won’t be a part of any spending bill advanced this week.
The question is whether Democrats will block a funding bill that doesn’t include DACA language, something some vowed not to do.
“We are not going to be held hostage to bad policies,” Democratic Minority Whip Steny Hoyer said.
Last May, when lawmakers were hashing out another stopgap spending measure, Trump suggested in a tweet that the “country needs a good ‘shutdown.’ ” Saturday morning he could get his wish.