Senate GOP Scrambling To Prepare Bill To End Shutdown
Senate Republicans are preparing to follow up President Donald Trump’s address to the nation with legislation to implement the proposals Trump outlined that would protect the Southern Border and end the partial shutdown of the federal government.
The bill would reopen all parts of the government for the rest of the federal fiscal year and include $5.7 billion for the Border Wall. The legislation would also extend protection for the children of illegal immigrants who are covered through the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. Refugees covered by Temporary Protected Status would see that coverage extended, Politico reported.
The bill will be a stand-alone bill. Funding for disaster relief and extending the Violence Against Women Act will be bundled into the package, Fox News reported.
I commend @POTUS for his leadership in proposing this bold solution to reopen the government, secure the border, and take bipartisan steps toward addressing current immigration issues.
My full statement: https://t.co/3lfItBQzEC— Leader McConnell (@senatemajldr) January 19, 2019
House Democrats have rejected the proposal.
“The president’s trade offer — temporary protections for some immigrants in exchange for a border wall boondoggle — is not acceptable,” said House Appropriations Chairwoman Nita Lowey, a New York Democrat.
Instead of considering a bill similar to the one proposed in the Senate, House Democrats will consider their 10th bill to reopen the government. Although the bills all pass the House because it has a Democratic majority, they have no support in the Senate.
Next week Senate will take up bill that:
– Extends TPS & DACA
– Funds disaster relief
– Funds humanitarian aid for migrants
– Ends #ShutdownBut Dem leaders reject it because includes some Border Security money.
This is completely irrational obstructionism
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) January 19, 2019
Democratic Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia was not as fast as his House colleagues to reject the plan.
“Let me just also make clear that what the president proposed yesterday, increasing border security, looking at TPS, looking at, at the Dreamers, I’ll use that as a starting point. But you’ve got to start by opening the government,” Warner said on “Meet the Press.”
“What we cannot do, and I’ve actually had Republicans as well recognize this, is that we cannot reward the kind of behavior of hostage taking. Because if the president can arbitrarily shut down the government now, he will do it time and again,” he added.
On Sunday, Vice President Mike Pence, appearing on the CBS show “Face the Nation,” said Trump, in essence, fired the starting gun for a race the Senate will begin running on Tuesday.
“It really is an effort to compromise and we really look forward to the Senate taking this bill up Tuesday and beginning to work in earnest not just to end this government shutdown, which is a burden on the families of 800,000 federal workers but even more importantly in that to address the crisis that we face in our southern border,” said Pence, who added that Trump’s plan is “a framework for ending this impasse, securing our- our border and reopening government.”
Pence said Democrats walking away from the table are missing the point.
“We recognize the legislative process is a process of give and take. The Democrats want to bring amendments or recommendations forward. I know the president will give them due consideration,” Pence said.
Pence noted that Trump’s proposal is designed to promote unity of the kind envisioned by The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King.
“You know the hearts and minds of the American people today are thinking a lot about it being the weekend where we remember the life and work of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. But one of my favorite quotes from Dr. King was, “Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy.” You think of how he changed America. He inspired us to change through the legislative process to become a more perfect union,” Pence said.
“That’s exactly what President Trump is calling on the Congress to do. Come to the table in a spirit of good faith. We’ll secure our border, we’ll reopen the government and we’ll move our nation forward as the president said yesterday to even a broader discussion about immigration reform in the months ahead,” he added.
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