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.
BONUS: Dave 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)
