Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and President Donald Trump
On Saturday, Trump did exactly what Warner suggested, offering Democrats a win-win compromise. In addition to his 230-mile physical barrier, Trump said he would support three years of legislative relief for 700,000 recipients of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, as well as a three-year extension for 300,000 other immigrants whose temporary protected status is expiring -- 1 million people in all. These extensions, Trump said, would give Congress time to "work on a larger immigration deal, which everybody wants -- Republicans and Democrats." His offer, Trump said, was "straightforward, fair, reasonable and common sense, with lots of compromise," adding that "both sides in Washington must simply come together ... and find solutions."
The Democrats' response? Pelosi called the offer "non-starter" even before Trump delivered his speech. Schumer declared it "one-sided and ineffective." That's ridiculous. Obviously, Trump's proposal is only an opening bid. But instead of making a counteroffer and negotiating in good faith, Democrats are demanding unconditional surrender. That extremism is playing politics with not only the lives of the DACA and TPS recipients, who would benefit under Trump's plan, but also the lives of the 800,000 federal government workers who are about to miss their second paycheck.
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