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Trump’s
shutdown
proposal
faces
uncertain
fate in
Senate
By
JILL
COLVIN
and
LISA
MASCARO
APNews.com
WASHINGTON
-
President
Donald
Trump’s
proposal
to
reopen
the
government,
sweetened
with
immigration
provisions
aimed at
mollifying
Democrats
but
which
have
alienated
some
conservatives,
is
headed
for
Senate
action,
its
prospects
uncertain.
Senate
Majority
Leader
Mitch
McConnell
will try
to
muscle
through
the
1,300-page
spending
measure,
which
includes
$5.7
billion
to fund
Trump’s
proposed
wall
along
the
U.S.-Mexico
border,
the
sticking
point in
the
standoff
between
Trump
and
Democrats
that has
led to a
partial
government
shutdown
now in
its 32nd
day.
Meanwhile,
another
missed
paycheck
looms
for
hundreds
of
thousands
of
federal
workers.
Senate
Republicans
late
Monday
unveiled
the
legislation,
dubbed
the “End
The
Shutdown
And
Secure
The
Border
Act,”
but its
passage
this
week is
by no
means
certain.
Republicans
hold a
53-47
majority
in the
chamber
but need
Democrats
to reach
the
usual
60-vote
threshold
for
bills to
advance.
No
Democrat
has
publicly
expressed
support
for the
proposal
Trump
announced
over the
weekend.
Senate
Democratic
leader
Chuck
Schumer’s
office
reiterated
that
Democrats
are
unwilling
to
negotiate
any
border
security
funding
until
Trump
reopens
the
government.
“Nothing
has
changed
with the
latest
Republican
offer,”
Schumer
spokesman
Justin
Goodman
said.
“President
Trump
and
Senate
Republicans
are
still
saying:
‘Support
my plan
or the
government
stays
shut.’
That
isn’t a
compromise
or a
negotiation
— it’s
simply
more
hostage
taking.”
The
Republican
plan is
a
trade-off:
Trump’s
border
wall
funding
in
exchange
for
temporary
protection
from
deportation
for some
immigrants.
To try
to draw
more
bipartisan
support,
it adds
$12.7
billion
in
supplemental
funding
for
regions
hit by
hurricanes,
wildfires
and
other
natural
disasters.
In
exchange
for $5.7
billion
for
Trump’s
wall,
the
legislation
would
extend
temporary
protections
against
deportation
to
around
700,000
immigrants
covered
by the
Deferred
Action
for
Childhood
Arrivals
program,
or DACA.
Trump
has
tried
dismantling
the
Obama-era
program,
which
covers
people
who
arrived
in the
U.S.
illegally
as
children,
but has
been
blocked
so far
by
federal
lawsuits.
That
figure
is
substantially
lower
than the
1.8
million
people
Trump
proposed
protecting
a year
ago in a
plan
that
also
included
other
immigration
changes
and $25
billion
to pay
the full
costs of
building
his
wall.
Trump’s
proposal
was
among
several
the
Senate
rejected
last
February.
The
new
Senate
bill
would
also
provide
three
more
years of
temporary
protections
against
deportation
to
around
325,000
immigrants
in the
U.S. who
have
fled
countries
racked
by
natural
disasters
or
violent
conflicts.
Trump
has
ended
that
program,
called
Temporary
Protected
Status,
for El
Salvador,
has
which
the most
holders
of the
protected
status,
as well
as for
Honduras,
Nicaragua
and
several
other
countries.
Democrats
said
Trump’s
proposal
for a
three-year
DACA
extension
didn’t
go far
enough
and that
he was
simply
offering
to
restore
elements
of
immigration
provisions
he’d
taken
away.
Some
on the
right,
including
conservative
commentator
Ann
Coulter,
accused
Trump of
offering
“amnesty.”
“No,
Amnesty
is not a
part of
my
offer,”
Trump
tweeted
Sunday,
in
response.
He
added:
“Amnesty
will be
used
only on
a much
bigger
deal,
whether
on
immigration
or
something
else.”
While
the
House
and the
Senate
are
scheduled
to be
back in
session
Tuesday,
no votes
have
been
scheduled
on
Trump’s
plan.
McConnell
spokesman
David
Popp
said the
GOP
leader
“will
move” to
vote on
consideration
of the
president’s
proposal
this
week.
The bill
includes
funding
for most
domestic
agencies.
House
Democrats,
meanwhile,
are
pushing
ahead
this
week
with
their
legislation
to
reopen
the
government
and add
$1
billion
for
border
security
—
including
75 more
immigration
judges
and
infrastructure
improvements
— but no
funding
for the
wall.
On
Tuesday,
Trump
tweeted
that
Democrats
are
playing
“political
games”
and
repeated
his
claims
that the
wall is
a
solution
to drugs
and
crime —
although
the Drug
Enforcement
Administration
says
only a
small
percentage
of drugs
come
into the
country
between
ports of
entry.
“Without
a Wall
our
Country
can
never
have
Border
or
National
Security,”
Trump
tweeted.
“With a
powerful
Wall or
Steel
Barrier,
Crime
Rates
(and
Drugs)
will go
substantially
down all
over the
U.S. The
Dems
know
this but
want to
play
political
games.
Must
finally
be done
correctly.
No
Cave!”
he
tweeted.
The
impact
of the
government’s
longest-ever
shutdown
continues
to
ripple
across
the
nation.
The
longest
previous
shutdown
was 21
days in
1995-96,
when
Bill
Clinton
was
president.
The
Transportation
Security
Administration
said the
percentage
of its
airport
screeners
missing
work hit
10
percent
on
Sunday,
up from
3.1
percent
on the
comparable
Sunday a
year
ago.
The
screeners,
who have
been
working
without
pay,
have
been
citing
financial
hardship
as the
reason
they
can’t
report
to work.
Even so,
the
agency
said it
screened
1.78
million
passengers
Sunday
with
only 6.9
percent
having
to wait
15
minutes
or
longer
to get
through
security.
Asked in
an
interview
on “Fox
News
Sunday”
whether
Trump’s
Saturday
proposal
represented
a “final
offer,”
Vice
President
Mike
Pence
said the
White
House
was
willing
to
negotiate.
“Well,
of
course,”
Pence
said.
“The
legislative
process
is a
negotiation.”
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