Monday, January 22, 2018

Government To Reopen, Dreamers Still In Limbo


Senate Dems have apparently agreed to a 3-week continuing resolution to keep the Government open until February 8.  In exchange for their votes, they are relying on a commitment from human/turtle hybrid and slippery dick Sen. Mitch "Missy" McConnell to bring votes on DACA, hurricane funding and other issues up before that deadline. Well, Sen. Schumer, that's a lot of trust to have in untrustworthy charlatans. The continuing resolution does include funding for the Children's Health Insurance Program, thankfully taking that issue out of the Rethugs' hands for now.

One scenario is that Missy reneges on his "commitment," or negotiates in bad faith, and the Government shuts down on February 8, with the status quo preserved and Dreamers screwed. Another one is that a bipartisan deal is struck on DACA and when it goes to the reactionary Rethugs in the House, it's defeated, with the onus clearly and obviously laid at the feet of social Darwinist and cold blooded reptile Squeaker of the House Paul Ryan. Yet another scenario is that draft dodging demogogue Donald "Rump" Trump blows up everything with a tweet or ten.

Caught in this continuing Rethug hostage-taking are the Dreamers, who are losing their status at a clip of 122 per day, or 2,200 by February 8 and become subject to deportation. After seeing the racist, vicious ads that "Donald Trump for President" has been running, should we believe the Trumpian Party will do right by them? Democrats will have a lot to answer for if Dreamers are left out in the cold. We need to tell them to stay in the fight.

BONUSDave Anderson at Balloon Juice has an optimistic take --
The deal removes one hostage (CHIP) from danger.  The Senate will probably pass a DREAM-like bill soon which jams the House where it either passes after Ryan Boehners himself or there is a clear accountability moment.  It is hard to enact a positive agenda when one does[n't] control any calendar/agenda setting power but this deal cleans things up a bit for another go at DACA/DREAM in three weeks.
More sussing from Ezra Klein here.

Let's take a deep breath and see how this pans out.

BONUS II:  Here's ShareBlue's Eric Boehlert's take (click on image to enlarge) -


BONUS III (click on image to enlarge):


(Lars Kenseth, The New Yorker)

4 comments:

DivaNewYork said...

At least CHIP will be funded (half a loaf...).
Seems like we've been holding our breath way too much this past year, Hackie.

donnah said...

This whole shutdown crap will take some sorting out and everyone is emotionally invested in it. Politics is messy. Republicans make it messier.

As Democrats, we want to negotiate in good faith, which seems to always end up in us getting rolled. I keep emailing my representatives and telling them to stand firm, and it's disappointing when they look like they aren't. I am hoping now that the Dems have plans to make real progress when this extension wraps in three weeks.

I want the Democrats to speak out more, to stop letting the Republicans frame every debate. We need cutting edge ads and commercials that combat the terrible ones the Republicans send out. Make it a real contest, guys! And then follow through.

The blogosphere is blaring with cries of failure and caving and lousy optics. I want the Democrats to step up and get what we all want.

DivaNewYork said...

The Dems have trapped Ryan and McConnell. If they don't come up with a resolution for Dreamers, the subsequent government closure can be laid directly at the feet of the Republicans.

W. Hackwhacker said...

donnah - great points. We put a post up today on that topic.

Diva - there's an op/ed by Catherine Rampell in today's post making that same point! They've bastardized the legislative process to cater to their most extreme elements, not allowing a bipartisan solution on this and many other issues.