Dem Senator Shoots Down Trump’s Compromise Even Though He Recently Supported Similar Plan

Sen. Dick Durbin, the Illinois liberal stalwart and Senate minority whip, wants you to know he puts no stock in President Donald Trump’s plan to end the stalemate by providing protections to Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals recipients and other concessions on immigration in return for border funding.

“First, President Trump and Senate Majority Leader McConnell must open the government today,” Durbin said in a statement after the president’s speech on Saturday, in which the president said he would give a three-year protection for DACA recipients put in danger of deportation by Trump’s decision last year to end the Obama-era program.

“Second, I cannot support the proposed offer as reported and do not believe it can pass the Senate.

“Third, I am ready to sit down at any time after the government is open and work to resolve all outstanding issues.”

@senatorDurbin

My response to reported White House offer to end President Trump's government shutdown in exchange for the border wall and DACA:

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11:39 AM - Jan 19, 2019

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For most people who are paying only desultory attention to the government shutdown impasse, this statement might not come as too much of a surprise.

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After all, the Democrats have been, with several exceptions, rather in lockstep over the shutdown. Open the government and then we’ll talk about the wall, they say, which we’ve promised never to give you a dollar for but, hey, let’s talk. After you open the government, of course.

However, those with a keener memory might recall that Durbin was one of the co-sponsors of a billthatwould have done virtually everything that the president offered — albeit without the prospect of border security — all the way back in 2016 called the Bridge Act.

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The other co-sponsor was South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham — who, as The Daily Caller points out — has raised the possibility of DACA being a part of a negotiated settlement to end the border funding shutdown.

The Bridge Act was proposed after Trump’s election in 2016 when it became clear that he was considering repealing DACA, a program which had been put into effect by presidential fiat and hadn’t involved consulting Congress.

“In my view, the (executive action) issued by President Obama was unconstitutional and President-elect Trump would be right to repeal it,” Graham said in a December 2016 statement, according to a Politico report from the time.

https://www.westernjournal.com/ct/dem-senator-shoots-trumps-compromise-even-though-recently-supported-similar-plan/?utm_source=push&utm_medium=westernjournalism&utm_content=2019-01-20&utm_campaign=manualpost