Senate Democrats reluctantly voted to reopen the government on Monday after badly misjudging the political fault lines of a partial shutdown instigated to secure immigration concessions.
Minority Leader Charles Schumer of New York led his troops into a battle Friday. Democrats were encouraged by President Trump’s low approval ratings and penchant for off-message tweeting, the Republicans’ zero batting average in past shutdown fights, and a liberal base demanding action for “Dreamers.”
But five Senate Democrats up for re-election in red states immediately defected, a split in the party’s ranks not seen in years. They voted with Republicans — against leveraging their support for a must-pass spending bill for legislation preventing the deportation of at least 800,000 illegal immigrants brought to the U.S. as children through no fault of their own.
With public polling showing middling support, at best, for the minority’s strategy, Republicans’ confidence in their position went sky high: No vote on legislation to fix the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program until Democrats provided the votes to end the government shutdown.
These key developments, plus Trump keeping an unusually low profile, ran counter the Democrats’ expectations for how the shutdown would unfold. It provided Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., with latitude to maneuver and contributed to his outflanking Schumer in a test of political will.
“It’s the stupidest damn thing I’ve ever seen,” a Democratic operative in Washington with ties to Senate leadership said on condition of anonymity. “This is what happens when the caucus gets ginned up and ready to go into battle without thinking through the repercussions.”
Frank Sharry, executive director of the liberal immigration advocacy organization, America’s Voice, added in a scathing statement: “Last week, I was moved to tears of joy when Democrats stood up and fought for progressive values and for Dreamers. Today, I am moved to tears of disappointment and anger that Democrats blinked.”
Democrats were attempting to negotiate a deal to provide permanent legal status to DACA participants and others who qualified but never signed up. Trump and the Republicans wanted aggressive border security measures in return. Neither side was happy with what the other was offering.
So, pushed by progressive activists warning of blowback from the liberal base in 2018, Democrats tried to wield the power of the their 49-seat minority in the Senate, where it takes 60 votes to approve spending bills. The plan was to force House and Senate Republicans and the White House to agree to a DACA fix.
But Trump and the Republicans refused and the expected political fallout from a government shutdown for the GOP never materialized. Instead, the impasse threatened to derail the re-elections of as many as 10 Democrats running in red states while netting the minority party no concessions.
The only prudent choice was to cave, or risk weakening their political standing in the midterm elections while also failing to help the Dreamers in advance of a March 5 deadline to grant a reprieve from deportation. Many Democrats expressed disappointment, despite efforts by others to spin the outcome as a victory.
“It’s a great disappointment to me, and it’s a great disappointment to the more than 300,000 young people in the state of California,” Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., told reporters curtly after she voted against reopening the government, rejecting the agreement Schumer negotiated with McConnell to end the three-day shutdown.
“All we wanted was a vote.”
Instead, Democrats accepted McConnell’s commitment to put an immigration bill on the floor in three weeks, if a bipartisan agreement on DACA is not reached before the legislation approved Monday to end the partial government shutdown expires. The catch: The deal is off if Senate Democrats withhold their votes for a spending bill and a government shutdown results.
Democrats grumbled that they didn’t know if they could trust McConnell. But the agreement was crucial; it showed Republicans as flexible and reasonable, willing to make overtures to the minority despite not being compelled — McConnell also agreed to reduce the amount of time the spending bill covered to three weeks, from the four weeks originally passed by the House. The move also helped McConnell keep his conference unified.
“Appearing like a reasonable adult is an important part of the equation, particularly when you have one party that walks off the ledge,” Josh Holmes, McConnell’s former chief of staff, said.
Not all Democrats were unhappy. With the party’s power in Washington resting solely in the strength of its minority caucus in the Senate, some argued that much was achieved.
Republicans, to force Democrats’ hands on the spending bill, included a six-year reauthorization of the Children’s Health Insurance Program. CHIP subsidizes healthcare for disadvantaged children and is a major Democratic priority. Democrats contend their initial resistance is the only reason it was coupled with the spending bill.
Democrats also tried to take credit for McConnell’s olive branch, saying a permanent DACA solution never would have come this far without their willingness to shut down the government. Republicans counter they have always intended to deal with DACA and so had planned to put a bill on the floor before March 5 in any event.
“Chuck Schumer handled these negotiations perfectly,” said Jon Selib, former chief of staff to then-Democratic Sen. Max Baucus of Montana. “He extracted a clean extension of CHIP for six years, leaving room to exert leverage for other priorities on the next round, and built up a bipartisan coalition in the Senate to demand a vote to protect dreamers that McConnell has agreed to hold publicly. Time to declare victory, this is a big win.”
Al Weaver contributed to this report.
