Earlier in this thread a reader suggested Democrats in Congress should look into my suggestion that they should pitch focused foreign aid as a replacement for the Wall. I sent mail off to Senators Klobuchar and Smith, and Rep. McColllum. Senator Smith is the first one to reply, which I received yesterday, and here’s the text:
Thank you for contacting me about the government shutdown. I appreciate hearing from you regarding this critical situation.
A shutdown isn’t good for anyone. In December, senators on both sides of the aisle came together on a reasonable budget deal that would have kept the government open, but after the President rejected it, it was not passed by the House of Representatives. Now, as a result of the partial government shutdown, Americans are being denied some vital government services and hundreds of thousands of federal employees have had to go without a paycheck. People are suffering, and we must come together to reopen the government and remedy the harmful impacts a shutdown has on workers and their families. We can and should have a debate on border security, but we need to open the government first. Then we can sit down and negotiate over immigration policy and border security more specifically.
We must also do everything we can to support the workers who have been denied pay during the shutdown. I supported legislation to ensure that federal workers are fairly compensated for lapses in their pay due to a government shutdown, and I am very pleased that that bill has now been enacted into law. I have also authored a bill to help another group of workers denied pay during the shutdown — federal contract employees who continue to go without pay. My bill is about helping this group of people who are often invisible — people who work in the cafeterias, who clean offices after everyone else goes home, security guards who keep our buildings safe overnight. These low- and mid-wage federal contract workers have gone without pay for weeks, and in past shutdowns, they haven’t received back pay. That’s wrong and that’s what my bill is trying to fix.
We must come together to open the government and make sure workers receive the back pay they deserve. And we can then work together to help fix our broken immigration system. But we must reopen the government immediately.
Again, thank you for contacting me about this issue. Please do not hesitate to do so again in the future.
Sincerely,
Tina Smith
United States Senator
Clearly boilerplate, but that’s fine. I don’t expect to engage in any sort of back ‘n forth with a US Senator.
According to the media, the shutdown may be coming to an end, if only temporarily:
Negotiators are moving toward an agreement on a deal to re-open the government, but it has not received final sign off from all sides, two sources familiar say.
Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer is in direct talks with the White House over finalizing the language.
What’s in it: The deal would be a CR for three weeks, which would include the current level of fencing and wall repair money ($1.3 billion for the year.)
There are still issues over the backpay provisions that any agreement would include, one source says. Once it’s passed, lawmakers would have three weeks to reach an agreement that addresses President Trump’s border wall funding request.
If they don’t reach a deal, Trump is expected to say he’ll invoke a national emergency.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s preference is to voice vote any deal announced today. Senators were told today in an email, but that is not a sure thing until every senator has signed off. [CNN]
The Democrats claim the President caved. I think it’s exceedingly vacuous of them to make such claims, as it’ll tend to enrage the fellow and shows them to be intemperate as well. Schadenfreude is not an emotion that wears well in Washington, since you end up having to work with the same folks the next week.
Since I’m here, I’d like to note the following bit from yet another Trump family member:
Lara Trump said the issue is that without the shutdown, the president has “no hand to play.” [WaPo]
My problem with this is that the President is the Executive, not a (or “the”) lawmaker. Thus, his hand is restricted to Executive functions and foreign relations.
Yes, I am aware that Obama took a similar role when it came to the Dreamers. The primary difference between Obama’s and Trump’s emergencies? The public agreed with Obama, not with Trump. The Republicans refused to deal with an incipient emergency, and Obama finally moved on it.
