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Majority leader Sen. Mitch McConnell and Minority leader Chuck Schumer spoke on the Senate floor ahead of a vote on the most recent proposals to end the government shutdown.
USA TODAY
WASHINGTON – House Democratic leaders are drafting a letter to President Donald Trump that would propose $5 billion in border security if he agrees to reopen the government, but Trump warned Wednesday that the partial government shutdown could drag on for a while.
The Democrats’ proposal does not include money for any “new structures†along the southern border as the president demanded, so it is unlikely to move as is. It is still significant because it’s the first time Democratic leaders will broadly lay out what they might accept in a compromise to end the government shutdown, which is in its 33rd day.
“It’s a starting point. You know, I think we all want border security. There is no question about it,” said Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee. “It’s just that some of the things that are being pursued in the name of border security we disagree with.â€
Thompson said he is involved in drafting the letter, which he expects to come from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.
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Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., left, Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., second from left, and Rep. Veronica Escobar, D-Texas, second from right, wait for other freshman Congressmen to deliver a letter calling to an end to the government shutdown to deliver to the office of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Ky., on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 16, 2019.Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., left, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of Calif., right, walk into an event with furloughed federal workers amid the partial government shutdown, Wednesday, Jan. 16, 2019, on Capitol Hill in Washington.The entrance of the Miami International Airport’s Terminal G remained closed due to the government shutdown, in Miami, Florida, USA, 12 January 2019. The current partial shutdown of the US federal government has become the longest in US history, on Jan. 12, 2019 surpassing the previous 21-day shutdown of 1995-1996. Over 800,000 federal employees are impacted by the shutdown, with around 400,000 furloughed and being paid later and the rest deemed ‘essential’, who must work without pay, though retroactive pay is expected, with January 11 marking the first missed paycheck. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of Calif., center, speaks about her oath of office as she stands next to Senate Minority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer of N.Y., left, and Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., right, following their meeting with President Donald Trump at the White House in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 9, 2019. Vice President Mike Pence, left, White House legislative affairs aide Ja’Ron Smith, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, second row left, White House Senior Adviser Jared Kushner, and others, walk down the steps of the Eisenhower Executive Office building, on the White House complex, after a meeting with staff members of House and Senate leadership, Saturday, Jan. 5, 2019, in Washington.President Donald J. Trump holds a news conference beside US Vice President Mike Pence, left,, Republican Representative from Louisiana Steve Scalise (2-R) and House Minority Leader Republican Kevin McCarthy, right, in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, DC on Jan. 4, 2019. President Trump discussed a variety of topics, particularly his meeting with Congressional Democratic and Republican leaders for negotiations on the ongoing partial shutdown of the federal government. A partial shutdown of the government continues since Congress and Trump failed to strike a deal on border security before a 22 December 22, 2018 funding deadline. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., is met by reporters as he arrives at the Capitol on the first morning of a partial government shutdown, as Democratic lawmakers, and some Republicans, are at odds with President Donald Trump on spending for his border wall, in Washington, Saturday, Dec. 22, 2018.
a proposal that would include temporary protections for Dreamers as well as refugees who had been given Temporary Protected Status in the USA in exchange for $5.7 billion for his wall along the southern border. The president’s proposal would make it harder for minors from Central America to seek asylum, an idea Democrats oppose.
U.S. Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Amy McElroy, left, and Lt. j.g. Sean Hill, who both missed a paycheck a day earlier during the partial government shutdown, talk about the stacks of fishing fleet inspections backing-up in the marine inspection office at Sector Puget Sound base, Jan. 16, 2019, in Seattle. The four civilian employees who normally handle the paperwork have been furloughed, leaving it to Hill to complete, along with his other duties. The Coast Guard is part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which is unfunded during the shutdown, now in its fourth week.A TSA officer closes the entrance of the Miami International Airport’s Terminal G, during the ongoing the government shutdown, in Miami on Jan. 12, 2019. The current partial shutdown of the US federal government has become the longest in US history, on Jan. 12, surpassing the previous 21-day shutdown of 1995-1996. Over 800,000 federal employees are impacted by the shutdown, with around 400,000 furloughed and being paid later and the rest deemed ‘essential’, who must work without pay, though retroactive pay is expected, with Jan. 11 marking the first missed paycheck.Jack Lyons, a contractor working on massive rocket test stands for NASA, stands in his workshop while spending the furlough on his small side business making props for marching bands, in Madison, Ala., Jan. 8, 2019. “They’re trying to use people as bargaining chips, and it just isn’t right,” Lyons said. Unlike civil service workers who expect to eventually get back pay, Lyons doesn’t know if he’ll ever see a dollar from the shutdown period.
a vote to begin debate on the president’s proposal Thursday. If that fails to get the 60 votes required, a bill that would fund all of the remaining government agencies through Feb. 8 will be voted on.Â
“I want my friends, my Republican friends, to understand the stakes here. Reopening the government for three weeks may not sound like a long time, but it’s massively important to 800,000 public servants who have been languishing without pay,” Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said on the Senate floor Wednesday.Â
It is unclear whether either bill will make it through the Senate.
The House voted 234-180 Wednesday to approve a spending bill that would reopen eight of the nine shuttered federal departments and fund them through Sept. 30. The House plans to vote on a separate bill that would fund the Department of Homeland Security through Feb. 28. Neither bill is likely to receive a vote in the Senate.
On Wednesday, 30 centrist Democrats sent a letter to Pelosi calling on her to offer a vote on Trump’s border wall in exchange for his support to reopen the government. The wall is unlikely to pass the Democratic-controlled House.
Rep. Elaine Luria, D-Va., a freshman lawmaker who took the lead in drafting the letter, told reporters the message was “we need to return to regular order, we need to open the government, we need to take these issues to committee, we need to analyze them in a facts-based way.â€
“We promised our constituents that we would seek bipartisan solutions, and we feel that this proposal would gain bipartisan support and allow a transparent process,†the letter reads.
Luria, who represents a district Trump won in 2016, dismissed any notion that those on the letter were breaking with their leadership.
“This (letter) is very much in line with what we were just discussing in the caucus meeting,†Luria said after Democrats met Wednesday morning.
“I don’t think there’s any division†within the caucus, Luria said.
“It’s just coming from every direction, the pain that this is inflicting on people, so we just have to get the government open,” said Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon, D-Pa., another freshman. “Everything I’m hearing is the caucus is really united. It has to be.”Â
Contributing: Maureen Groppe
More: What’s in the Republican immigration bill, and why Democrats oppose it
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