He almost lasted a whole year. President Trump’s first government shutdown comes even with the Republicans holding all the cards.
Chuck Schumer had the upper hand in this shutdown but was forced to give in by agreeing to support a deal to keep the federal government open until Feb. 8, leaving immigrants who came to the U.S. at a young age in political chaos.
Last week, Senate Democrats were holding their ground for full protection for the Dreamers but settled for an ambiguous promise to discuss the crisis. Even if the Senate does debate a bill in the next month or so to protect the Dreamers, there will be little to hold Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to his promise to schedule a vote. What makes this situation even more taxing, is if there is a vote and it ends in their favor, there is little-to-no guarantee Trump will sign it.
Schumer held a lot of power in this situation. He had the president and the GOP majorities in Congress cornered with the pressures that was built up to protect the Dreamers thanks to the public outcry for more options, but let it slip away.
Had Schumer waited for a few days, Republicans might have folded and bowed to the public pressure to keep the government open and protect the Dreamers. But now, we won’t ever know if the Republicans would have learned an important lesson in humility.
In the next few weeks we will learn how much the American people who are more liberal-minded, and the dreamers who are holding on by a thread, will have to pay to keep things somewhat balanced.
If we can even call it that anymore.
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