Schumer offered Trump something Democrats hate for something Republicans broadly like

By Philip Bump
January 20

When the New York Times first reported it, it seemed unlikely. Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) offered President Trump funding for his wall in exchange for protecting immigrants who entered the country illegally as children? The most powerful Democrat in the Senate was willing to support one of his party’s most-hated proposals, just like that? The Times wrote simply that Schumer “discussed the possibility of fully funding the president’s wall on the southern border with Mexico” — which leaves some wiggle room. On the floor of the Senate on Saturday, though, Schumer explained that it was almost exactly that: A deal on those covered under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program that would also potentially fund the wall.

“On the thorniest issue, of immigration,” Schumer said, “the president said many times he would take a deal that had included DACA in exchange for the wall. I put that deal on the table in the Oval Office in a sincere effort at compromise. I put the wall on the table in exchange for strong DACA protections. … It was a generous offer.” That it was. Schumer offered to give Trump something that Schumer’s own base would hate; in return, Republicans would agree to something that their base is fine with.

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What’s more, what Schumer offered was apparently not the full cost of covering the entire border along the wall. In a news conference on Saturday, White House budget director Mick Mulvaney disparaged Schumer for claiming to have agreed to funding the wall — he actually agreed to only the $1.6 billion the administration asked for in 2017.

Schumer’s not necessarily in the clear politically. In the abstract, Democrats may agree with trading the wall for DACA (or trading $1.6 billion in wall funding), but he might need to sell his party on that being an unavoidable choice (which it doesn’t seem that it was). Agreeing to the wall in any way will likely be seen by many on the left as not only a victory for the president they despise but an insult to Hispanics living in the United States. Democratic leadership agreeing to it relatively easily probably wouldn’t go over that well.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/politics/wp/2018/01/20/schumer-offered-trump-something-democrats-hate-to-get-something-republicans-broadly-like/?utm_term=.daf71cc00b68