From a CNN report:
In the end, it was Collins and Flake — both members who had been promised things from McConnell during the tax debate and were still awaiting their commitments to be carried out — who helped convince their Democratic colleagues that they could trust McConnell’s word.
Schumer will be fine. The Dreamer’s Act is sponsored by Lindsey Graham and Dick Durban and is a very modest arrangement for de facto permanent residents, with things like biometric scans and access to higher education. Trump and his gang are the crazies here, but they have weaponized the use of short-term swings in public opinion. Kamala Harris got this but a whole lot of other people seem to have lost their fudge. Sure McConnell is a snake, but the Senate will revisit the Dreamer’s Act and McConnell’s snakiness in less than three weeks.
It’s one thing to fight and quite another to get killed in the court of public opinion. The longer a shutdown plays out and the more people are made uncomfortable by it, the worse it gets for you in the public blame game. There will be another day to fight, but a Pickett’s Charge wasn’t the correct tactic.
That quote is rich, but I do believe McConnell will bring a bill to the floor. He doesn’t have anything to lose. If it passes, he’s got the House and the White House behind him who can pass, alter, kill, or veto it. He comes out of it scot-free, maybe even burnished by giving the appearance of returning to regular order.
Although I was initially unhappy about this, upon reflection this is hardly an earth shattering moment and having CHIP funding extended 6 years is a good thing. Also Dems now have about 12 GOP Senators claiming they"have their backs" on DACA. As long as the Repubs fail to come up with an actual budget then Dems will continue to have leverage due to running the government by short tern CR’s. In the end all the Dems lost here is three weeks. If the turtle does not keep his word or the dozen or so Repubs who have said they will help Dems with DACA renege on their promise then Dems can shut down the government again on FEB 8.
Did Schumer negotiate a 6 year reauthorization for CHIP? Did Schumer enable McCaskill and Testor to force McConnell to “I OBJECT” for proposals to end the shutdown, specifically for damning election ad material? Did Schumer position the next deadline on Feb 8, to force GOP to address the DACA issue? This headline using the word, cave sounds like something the GOP would put out.
Agreed… this headline needs work… It contributes to the GOP narrative… Is that what TPM really wants?
Yeah, the media’s reaction that this was a massive cave seemed to be set from the start. I don’t see it like that, they set themselves up in a better position for the next round. Let’s see what happens in Feb.
The Dems are fooling themselves if they think they are dealing with rational people who want to help the country and “make things work”. The GOP in office are elected by people who DO NOT want “the government” to work, because they have been brainwashed into thinking it is the problem and only there to subsidize things and people they don’t like.
They are a MINORITY, but very vocal and very good at taking over messaging. The majority have shown since at least 2008 that they want a change AWAY from GOP lite. The Dems squandered a generational mandate in 2008 and then spent the next 6 years after 2010 writing sternly worded letters, basically pouted but did nothing else to fight the travesty of no supreme court vote in 2016, and pushed a candidate voters already said no to in 2008.
Why werent every Dem out blaming the GOP and Trump for shutdown because they were holding military spending hostage by passing massive tax cuts for the rich while the GOP and Trump chose to stop CHIP and DACA to begin with??. People want firm boundaries. Dems were winning when Trump seemed erratic and irrational and GOP seemed hateful and only plutocrats’ toadies. Now the Dems look like only going with special interests that can change over time. The Dems need to make the case of why they are better and then STAY WITH IT.
The GOP wins because it’s better to have the Devil you know than a possibly fake friend who might stab you in the back. So the base and many Independents stay home. This is why Dems have won more this year in local elections as the candidates offer FORCEFUL change from status quo compared to more crazy. Schumer is risking putting up breakwalls against any Blue Wave by trying to have things “peaceful”. The GOP have proven they are not peaceful. Why weren’t people saying that the filabuster was BIPARTISAN?
Jack-booted Republican thugs are next door tearing apart your neighbor’s family.
Yours is next. Support Dreamers.
I think this was a first skirmish in an ongoing battle. No need to declare loss quite yet. Reposition, martial forces, see how events play out over the next weeks. And farther probably since the R’s are too incompetent to pass a budget and will keep on with short term CRs.
ETA I see our esteemed host and I are on the same wavelength. From the editor’s blog:
“Get up, dust yourself off and realize that this is a skirmish in a larger political battle which will come to a head again in three short weeks.”
TPM needs the ad-clicks so they resort to NYPost-type titles.
Every government shutdown is 100% the fault of the House of Representatives, where spending bills originate.
MSNBC certainly did not help…way past time to turn off that blathering hardballer Chris Matthews…the network put forth the idea of “who is to blame (?)” and kept that prominent. C’mon Dems, get over the MSNBC fixation. Instead of blaming Schumer, why not take aim at those red state senators…and find a person who can sell the Dem agenda to the blockhead republicans in their districts? Anyway can we get airtime about likelihood that in three short weeks the DACA issue will be met, head on…in an environment of a new indictment against the trump team. Likely could result in decent immigration legislation…
Yeah, I think there’s quite a bit of knee jerk reacting going on. And those purity ponies are always willing to circle the wagons and shoot their own. It’s going to be a problem this year. And whenever the purity ponies start shooting their own, the Russian bots jump on board and milk it for all its worth. Long range planning and strategy is not their forte.
It seems to me that Senate Democrats got CHIP funding for 6 years, and agreed to keep the government running for 3 weeks while they finish a bill to protect DREAMers - a bill that will get a vote - and maybe something for community health centers. Keeping the government shut-down was not going to help Democrats or the DREAMers. Remember, Russian bots are still working for the Republicans. Democrats want government to work. Republicans want it to work for a select few, and they also think that shut-downs do not hurt them even when they are to blame - Republican voters always come back to vote reliably. The problem in elections is when Democratic purists vote their conscience and allow Republicans to be elected, and then get angry when a Democratic minority can’t just do whatever they want.
Let’s get a Democratic majority elected in as many places as we can. Then, if they don’t do what we want as Democrats, get as angry as you want and vote them out. But, we have to vote them in first.
Someone said it so well the other day: I can’t quote perfectly, but along the lines of, “the purity ponies have the gall to whine about the adults trying to manage an impossible mess that they created.”
Strangely enough,the TPM Editor has had nothing to say about it either so far.
Yes, and I asked that person if Pelosi, Clyburn, et al., who also criticized this “deal,” were among those “purity ponies.”
No response, of course. Not a surprise.