Trump Proposes “Compromise” that would Reopen Government, Fund Border Wall, and Enact Temporary Protections for DACA and TPS Beneficiaries
Sunday, January 20, 2019
President Donald J. Trump yesterday proposed a plan to re-open the shuttered departments, agencies, and functions of the federal government.
The President's plan would require Congress to appropriate $5.7 BILLION in Fiscal Year 2019 funds to construct 234 miles of a "steel barrier system" along the U.S. border with Mexico. It would, as well, require Congress to appropriate approximately $3 BILLION in additional Fiscal Year 2019 funds for other border security related projects and activities.
The President's plan would require Congress to appropriate $5.7 BILLION in Fiscal Year 2019 funds to construct 234 miles of a "steel barrier system" along the U.S. border with Mexico. It would, as well, require Congress to appropriate approximately $3 BILLION in additional Fiscal Year 2019 funds for other border security related projects and activities.
The President announced his plan on Saturday, January 19, 2019, in an address that was televised on all of the national cable news networks. He asserted that the plan would be put into bill form and introduced in the U.S. Senate by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) on Tuesday, January 22, 2019, and that it would be considered by the full Senate next week.
The President's proposal was denounced by the House and Senate Democratic Leadership and many pro-immigrant advocacy organizations even before he presented it to the nation. The reasons they enunciated for opposing it included complaints that the relief he was offering to DACA and TPS beneficiaries was only temporary; that the class of beneficiaries was too small; and that he seemed to include in his proposal changes in law that would make it more difficult for persons seeking asylum to present their claims and that would roll back protections in existing law for unaccompanied alien children (UACs),
The House and Senate Democratic Leadership demanded, instead, that the federal government first be opened and that only then should the President and Congress begin to address the issues embodied in his proposal.
The President's proposal was denounced by the House and Senate Democratic Leadership and many pro-immigrant advocacy organizations even before he presented it to the nation. The reasons they enunciated for opposing it included complaints that the relief he was offering to DACA and TPS beneficiaries was only temporary; that the class of beneficiaries was too small; and that he seemed to include in his proposal changes in law that would make it more difficult for persons seeking asylum to present their claims and that would roll back protections in existing law for unaccompanied alien children (UACs),
The House and Senate Democratic Leadership demanded, instead, that the federal government first be opened and that only then should the President and Congress begin to address the issues embodied in his proposal.