USA | Top Democrat rescinds offer of USD25 billion for Trump’s wall

Senate Minority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer of N.Y

Top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer has pulled back an offer of USD25 billion for President Donald Trump’s long-promised southern border wall, as lawmakers scrambled to figure out how to push a deal to protect 700,000 or more so-called Dreamer immigrants from deportation.

Schumer had made the offer last week in a last-ditch effort to head off a government shutdown, then came scalding criticism from his party’s liberal activist base that Democrats had given up too easily in reopening the government without more concrete promises on immigration.

“We’re going to have to start on a new basis, and the wall offer’s off the table,” Schumer, D-N.Y., told reporters yesterday (Macau time).

The shutdown battle — settled mostly on Trump’s terms — complicated the already difficult search for an immigration pact: GOP hard-liners appeared emboldened, while Democrats absorbed withering criticism from progressives. Neither development seemed likely to push the combatants toward the compromises needed to produce a bill that can pass both the tea party-driven House and the more pragmatic Senate.

Still, there were fresh signs of a willingness to keep hunting for a solution, with a flurry of meetings on Capitol Hill and an assessment from White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders that “I don’t think they’re that far apart.”

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said he’d been to three meetings about immigration. “I know there’s a lot of skepticism around here and not much trust,” he said, “but I do believe that there is a bona fide bipartisan concern about getting this done.”

Even if the Senate can come up with the votes to pass a plan, Democrats fear there is little chance such a bill would gain the support of House Republicans.

“There were no commitments made in the House” as legislators worked to end the government shutdown, House GOP Whip Steve Scalise of Louisiana said Monday, warning against any “amnesty” measure.

Trump weighed via Twitter: “Nobody knows for sure that the Republicans & Democrats will be able to reach a deal on DACA by February 8, but everyone will be trying….with a big additional focus put on Military Strength and Border Security. The Dems have just learned that a Shutdown is not the answer!”

Cornyn, the No. 2 Senate Republican, said Schumer had promised $25 billion for the wall and other border security measures, though not all of that would have been immediate funding. He called Schumer’s withdrawal of the offer “a step backward.”

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has committed to trying to reach a deal on immigration and key budget issues by Feb. 8, though Cornyn said Monday that “strikes me as highly difficult.”

Instead, the Senate appeared more likely to start a freewheeling debate next month.

“Whoever gets 60 votes wins,” said McConnell. AP