Countdown to the next crisis
In “The Art of the Deal,” Donald Trump wrote, “Deals are my art form. Other people paint beautifully on canvas or write wonderful poetry. I like making deals, preferably big deals.” With the federal government running out of money, Congress riven by divisions, and the fate of hundreds of thousands of immigrants on the line, it was an ideal occasion for a big, beautiful, wonderful deal.
Instead, Trump celebrated his first year in office by steering the federal government into an unscheduled holiday, a three-day shutdown that yielded to a thoroughly underwhelming deal to resume operations for a grand total of 2½ weeks. Moreover, the deal was made without and arguably despite Trump, who can’t seem to make a deal with himself lately.
Reached by a bipartisan group of moderate senators on Monday, the agreement does make substantive progress in one respect by restoring long-term funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program, known as CHIP. Passed with bipartisan support 20 years ago to reduce the ranks of uninsured children, CHIP never should have become a bargaining chip, but it did. Congress’ extension of its funding for six years means that it isn’t anymore.
But the original impasse over immigrants brought to the country illegally as children, known as Dreamers, remains. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has promised a floor debate on the matter. But even if it leads to a constructive vote in the Senate, the House and president would have to concur. So McConnell’s pledge has all the substance of a dream.
Immigration is a divisive issue, but the public isn’t particularly divided over Dreamers: About three-quarters of Americans, if not more, oppose deporting them, and rightly so. They can’t reasonably be held responsible for breaking immigration laws, and many haven’t known another country.
Republican lawmakers, however, are divided between moderates who want to protect the young immigrants and hard-liners who are prepared to deport them or at least use their fate to force an immigration crackdown. Democratic lawmakers, meanwhile, are divided in their degree of fervor: While a majority voted for Monday’s deal, 15, including California’s Dianne Feinstein and Kamala Harris, voted to prolong the shutdown absent protections for Dreamers.
Trump threw the issue to Congress by rescinding Barack Obama’s order instituting Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, and prolonged it with his recent vulgar dismissal of a bipartisan agreement on immigration. Where exactly does he stand now? As ever, it seems to depend on whether it’s Tuesday or Thursday.
Trump bears the most responsibility for this impasse and its outcome not just because — as he himself argued during the Obama administration — he is the president, but also because he authored the crisis at hand and claimed that defusing such disagreements is his foremost skill and, indeed, art. Other presidents promised Americans square, new and fair deals, but Trump promised us “the best deals.” Where are they?