Congressional Democrats should support and pass President Trump’s compromise government funding plan, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., urged lawmakers Tuesday.
“The opportunity to end all of this is staring us right in the face,” McConnell said Tuesday, minutes after the Senate floor opened for business. “All that needs to happen is for our Democratic friends to agree it’s time to put the country ahead of politics, take yes for an answer.”
The president offered a proposal Saturday that would reopen a slew of closed government agencies and departments while providing $5.7 billion for a wall along the southwest border of the United States. Trump offered Democrats a sweetener — three years of extended legal protection for “Dreamers” and those now living in the U.S. with Temporary Protected Status.
Democratic leaders have rejected the proposal, in part because they are seeking permanent legal status for Dreamers and a pathway to citizenship.
The measure could serve as a starting point for a bill that might be able to garner Democratic support in the Senate.
McConnell has scheduled a vote on the bill this week, and it will largely serve as a tool to pressure Democrats. Republicans control 53 votes, which means the measure requires support from at least seven Democrats — and so far none have announced they will vote for it.
The shutdown is well into its second month — 800,000 federal workers have already missed one paycheck and are poised to miss a second one this week.
“To reject this proposal, Democrats would have to prioritize political combat with the president ahead of federal workers, ahead of DACA recipients, ahead of border security, and ahead of stable and predictable government funding,” McConnell said Tuesday.
“Is that really a price that Democrats want to pay to prolong this episode … so they can look like champions of the so-called resistance?”
