Shutdown power struggle escalates
What happened
President Trump’s proposal to trade border wall funding for temporary protections for “Dreamers” appeared dead this week, after Democrats rejected his terms and said they would not negotiate until Republicans agreed to end the partial shutdown of the federal government. Trump offered to exchange temporary immigrant protections for $5.7 billion to begin adding “steel barriers in high-priority locations” to 654 miles of existing border fencing. Those protections included a three-year extension on the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, covering about 700,000 immigrants illegally brought to America as children—the Dreamers. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell called a GOP bill incorporating Trump’s proposal a reasonable compromise. “The opportunity to end all this is staring us right in the face,” he said. But House Speaker Nancy Pelosi branded Trump’s proposal a “nonstarter” because the protections are temporary and attached to new immigration restrictions. She also said Democrats won’t negotiate as long as Trump continues the shutdown—which has left 800,000 federal employees without pay. If Trump can “hold the employees hostage now,” Pelosi said, “they’re hostage forever.”
As their power struggle escalated, Pelosi told Trump he should postpone next week’s scheduled State of the Union address until the shutdown ends. Trump responded with a letter defiantly declaring he would give the annual address in the House as planned, but retreated when Pelosi said he wouldn’t be invited. A new Politico/ Morning Consult poll, meanwhile, found that 54 percent of voters blame Trump and congressional Republicans for the shutdown, while 35 percent blame the Democrats.
With no end to the shutdown in sight, 800,000 federal workers were on the verge of missing a second consecutive paycheck. In San Francisco, 150 Coast Guard families lined up at a food bank for groceries. The FBI agents’ union warned the shutdown had stalled major investigations and become a national security threat. Poor, elderly, and disabled tenants residing in federally subsidized housing faced a moratorium on rental vouchers—and threats of eviction. As airport security lines grew, a record 10 percent of TSA agents called in sick on Sunday in apparent protest at not being paid.
What the editorials said
Democrats are right to reject Trump’s DACA offer, said the Los Angeles Times. The offer of temporary relief “wouldn’t make the Dreamers much better off than they are now,” as the Supreme Court said this week it wouldn’t likely consider their case until 2020. Democrats are also right to refuse to negotiate until the shutdown is over. To do so would be
What next?
President Trump may find another location to give his State of the Union address, said
in CNN.com. In early January, Pelosi invited Trump, as is customary, to address Congress on Jan. 29, but then cited security concerns in requesting he postpone until after the shutdown concluded. Trump, in an apparent tit-for-tat, then canceled a scheduled trip Pelosi and other Democrats were to make to U.S. troops in Afghanistan. This week, Trump sent Pelosi a letter announcing his plan to come, but Pelosi responded that she would refuse to take the necessary procedural steps to convene a joint session of Congress.
“It’s really a shame, what’s happening with the Democrats,” Trump said. “They’ve become radicalized.” His aides were looking at other options, ranging from delivering the address from the Oval Office—a setting Trump dislikes because there’s no audience present—to another White House location with room for seats, or even a campaign-style rally outside Washington.