The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
SENATE WILL VOTE ON RIVAL PLANS TO END SHUTDOWN
Senate leaders on Tuesday agreed to vote this week on two competing proposals to end the government shutdown. Both are expected to fail, but the votes could prompt the two sides to begin negotiating a bipartisan compromise.
The two plans
President Donald Trump’s plan is to have Congress pay for new walls along the U.S.-Mexico border, while reopening the government and providing some deportation protections for “Dreamer” immigrants who were brought to the United States illegally as children.
The other measure, from Democrats, would temporarily reopen the government through Feb. 8 while talks on border security continue.
Either package would need to hit the 60-vote threshold to advance on Thursday, a tall order in the narrowly divided Senate where Republicans hold a 53-47 majority.
The next step
The plan for the Senate to consider the dueling proposals reflects the first bipartisan action since the shutdown began on legislation that could end the impasse, offering each party a chance to press its proposal. But the move by Senators Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader, and Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader, is far from a guarantee of breaking the gridlock.
The Democrats’ view
Schumer predicted Trump’s proposal “will be roundly defeated.” But the Democratic bill, which already passed in the House, “could break us out of the morass we are in,” he said.
“If you’re looking for a way to open up the government, this is the way,”
the New York senator said. Democrats have rejected Trump’s proposal and said the immigrant protections are inadequate — only offering temporary deportation relief that Trump helped cause by announcing an end to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program protecting young “Dreamer” immigrants.
“It’s not a compromise,” added Schumer. “It’s more hostage-taking.”
The Republicans’ view
Republicans downplayed the Democrats’ stopgap funding measure and said it would also fail.
McConnell said Trump’s 1,300-page spending measure — including $5.7 billion to fund the wall — “would break through this stalemate and would reopen government swiftly and deliver on a number of other policy priorities.”
But McConnell appears hopeful that it could be a starting point for negotiations since it embraces immigration concepts backed by Democrats. McConnell has been adamant that he’ll only take up legislation that Trump will sign.
“The proposal outlined by President Trump that we will consider here in the Senate is the only proposal, the only one currently before us, that can be signed by the president and immediately reopen the government,” McConnell said.