Democratic leaders have proposed to end the partial government shutdown and delay a decision on border wall funding until February.
Meanwhile, President Donald Trump is keeping an open invitation for the Democrats to negotiate the issue.
About a quarter of the federal government ran out of money Dec. 22 after Democrats refused to give Trump $5 billion for border wall construction—his core campaign promise—and he has refused to sign a funding bill without it.
Democrats now offer one bill that would fund everything except for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which is responsible for border security, and another bill that would fund the DHS through Feb. 8 without wall construction funds.
Republican lawmakers have previously backed the DHS stop-gap measure, but Trump has pushed them to reverse course and make a stand on the wall funding.
Democrats have called the wall project ineffective and expensive, despite previously backing construction of 700 miles of border fencing as part of a 2013 bill that also included a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants.
Trump seemed less than enthused by the Democrats’ proposition.
Negotiations
Schumer and Pelosi complained that Trump didn’t offer “any plan that can pass both chambers of Congress.”Trump, meanwhile, repeatedly called on the Democrats to come negotiate on a way out of the shutdown.
On Jan. 1, Trump invited Schumer and Pelosi to a bipartisan briefing on border security at the White House, unidentified congressional sources told Reuters, saying the event isn’t a negotiating session and, according to one source, was set for Jan. 2.
It wasn’t clear if Schumer and Pelosi would attend the briefing. The White House didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on the briefing’s specifics.
Trump previously said he’d accept steel slat fencing, which already exists in some parts of the border.
Graham Plan
Trump is open to offer Democrats something in return for approving funds for a border wall, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said after lunching with the president on Dec. 31.“I think that’s in the realm of possibility,” he said. “The president didn’t commit. But I think he’s very open minded.”
The temporary protections would extend to about 700,000 who can already apply for protection and work permits under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), a program set up by an executive action of Trump’s predecessor Barack Obama. Trump nixed the program, which was broadly regarded by Republicans as an executive overreach. But a federal judge put Trump’s action on hold.
Trump ended the program for Sudan, Nicaragua, Haiti, and El Salvador, but again, a federal judge put his decision on hold.
In July, the administration extended the program for Somalia and Yemen. But it’s scheduled to expire in 2019 for Nepal, South Sudan, and Syria.
“There’s a lot of sympathy for this population in the Congress,” Graham said.
Trump called the proposal “interesting,” Graham said. “Hopefully we can get some serious discussion started, maybe as soon as next week.”
Yet Graham also took off the table any deal that wouldn’t include at least “border security/wall/fencing—whatever you want to call it—in areas that make sense.”
“There’ll never be a deal, at the end of this year, the beginning of the next, that doesn’t have money for the physical barriers that we all have in the past agreed we need,” he said.
“The President is not asking for too much. … The question is, can we stop hating each other enough up here to find a way forward that’d be a win-win.”
