[van id=”politics/2019/01/19/trump-shutdown-offer-democrats-bts-nr-vpx.cnn”]
(KMJ) As heard Saturday afternoon on KMJ, President Donald Trump offered a 3-year extension of protection for ‘dreamers’ in exchange for $5.7 billion in boarder wall funding. But before Trump approached the Oval Office microphone, prominent Democrats call it a ‘non-starter’ as the partial government shutdown enters its fifth week.
In an exclusive interview with KMJ Rep. Devin Nunes told listeners “It sounds like it’s dead on arrival based on what the democrats are saying”. The Tulare County republican said he was surprised by Trump’s olive branch approach. “I was expecting him to declare an emergency and send the military down to the border to start construction,” Nunes told KMJ hosts Philip Teresi and Ray Appleton. “At the end of the day we are going to be in the same place next week with a shutdown government” Rep. Nunes said.
The President’s proposal also includes $800 million for urgent humanitarian assistance and $805 million for drug detection technology to secure ports of entry, as well additional border agents, law enforcement officials and new immigration judge teams to deal with cases of migrants crossing the US-Mexico border. Trump called it a “common sense compromise both parties should embrace” and touted the proposal as “straightforward, fair, reasonable and common sense, with lots of compromise.”
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a statement Saturday that initial reports of the proposed deal “make clear that his proposal is a compilation of several previously rejected initiatives, each of which is unacceptable and in total, do not represent a good faith effort to restore certainty to people’s lives.” “It is unlikely that any one of these provisions alone would pass the House, and taken together, they are a non-starter. For one thing, this proposal does not include the permanent solution for the Dreamers and TPS recipients that our country needs and supports,” Pelosi added.
And despite co-sponsoring the BRIDGE Act, Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin said in a statement Saturday that he would not support the upcoming proposal to reopen the government.
“First, President Trump and Senate Majority Leader McConnell must open the government today. 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 opened and work to resolve all outstanding issues,” Durbin said.
