Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has revoked an offer he made last week to President Trump to boost border wall funding as part of a deal to give a legislative fix to Dreamers.
According to a Schumer spokesman, an aide informed the White House on Sunday that specific offer would be revoked and taken off the table for future negotiations.
Schumer made the initial offer, which included over $1.6 billion in border wall funding, to Trump last Friday during a meeting at the White House. Trump turned the offer down during the meeting, according to the Senate Democratic leader.
Schumer elaborated on his decision in a press conference in the Capitol, where he indicated that he retracted his earlier offer because it was specific to the set of circumstances in play last week. He didn’t clarify, however, whether Democrats would be able to agree to more border wall spending in a future deal.
“That was part of a package. It was the first thing the president and I talked about was finishing by, as he said, Tuesday night,” Schumer said. “The thought was that we could come to an agreement that afternoon, the president would announce his support, and then the Senate and House would get it done and it would be on the president’s desk. He didn’t do that, so we’re going to have to start on a new basis and the wall offer is off the table.”
Ultimately, Senate Democrats accepted a government funding deal Monday that did not include a fix for Dreamers, instead taking Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., at his word that the Senate will take up a bill by Feb. 8.
The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program is set to expire on March 5, which Schumer noted during his speech on the Senate floor Tuesday afternoon. McConnell made the agreement to take up a bill by then both to Schumer and a bipartisan group of senators who helped broker the spending deal.
“The clock is ticking,” Schumer said. “Sixteen days. That’s not much time, got to get moving.”
“Leader McConnell’s promise to consider DACA legislation was made just as much to this bipartisan group as it has been made to me,” he said. “If he does not honor our agreement, it will be a breach of trust with not only the Democratic senators, but with several members of his own party as well.”
