[A]s the Senate gets ready to vote Thursday on a pair of competing measures to reopen the federal government, Sen. Patrick Leahy called President Donald Trump’s proposal less of a deal and more of a “deal-breaker.”
“It’s remarkable that the man whose name is the book ‘Art of the Deal’ would think Democrats would accept what amounts to a deal-breaker,” Leahy said during remarks made on the Senate floor on Wednesday. “This Democrat will not.”
On day 33 of the longest government shutdown in history, tensions remained high in the Capitol less than 24 hours before the Senate will vote on the president’s measure to end the shutdown and a Democrat-supported proposal to temporarily reopen government agencies as negotiations continue.
The impasse between Democrats and the president over the the shutdown continues to revolve around the $5.7 billion for a border wall that Trump insists upon in order to sign new spending bills. Democrats are refusing to negotiate over border security until the shutdown ends.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has not allowed the funding bill that passed the House earlier this month to come to the Senate floor, and had said he would not allow the Senate to vote on a measure the president does not support.
Trump’s latest proposal, which he announced over the weekend, would open the government through the end of September, provide the $5.7 billion for a border wall, and give temporary deportation protections to the almost 2 million Dreamers, those people enrolled in or eligible for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.
Trump’s measure also includes changes to the country’s rules for those seeking asylum, making it almost impossible for minors from Guatemala, Honduras or El Salvador to seek asylum. Leahy and other Democrats who were already united against funding the president’s wall said these new hardline immigration demands strengthened their resolve.
Last month, Vermont joined a multi-state coalition in support of a lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) against the Trump administration’s asylum ban.
Leahy, vice chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said Trump’s proposal is nothing more than an attempt by the Trump administration push its anti-immigration agenda and “strike fear into the hearts of all and document undocumented immigrants.”
“He is offering temporary protection for vulnerable immigrants that he chose to strip away in the first place in exchange for a permanent, ineffective wall,” Leahy said. “That’s not a compromise. It’s taking hostages on top of hostages. That’s a non-starter.”
The Democrats’ measure to reopen the government is almost identical to a funding bill co-authored by Leahy and Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., that passed the Senate days before the shutdown began.
The stopgap spending bill would fund the government through Feb. 8 without providing additional wall funding, and would allow both parties to debate border security without impacting federal workers.
In an interview with VTDigger, Leahy said he does not expect either of these measures to receive the 60 votes needed to pass on Thursday, which would set up a situation where the shutdown would continue into next week and disrupt the scheduled State of the Union.
“I’ve urged privately with both Republicans and Democrats that we stay here Friday through Sunday, have negotiations around the clock and get something done, but if the president agrees to something he has to say so publicly and stick with it,” he said.
The shutdown has affected 800,000 federal employees. If it continues into March, there is concern that it will threaten federal assistance programs administered at the state level, such as SNAP benefits, or food stamps.
On Tuesday, Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., unveiled a bill that would prevent federal employees from being required to work without pay during any current or future government shutdowns.
Vermont has 686 federal workers who are going without pay during the shutdown, and over 1,500 who work for agencies that have not had funds appropriated to them.
