Senate Democrats hit the big red button late last week forcing a government shutdown in protest over a DACA fix in government funding bill.
This despite just five years ago arguing quite publicly they’d never do anything of the sort.
And after roughly 72 hours with great weeping and gnashing of national teeth, Chuck Schumer and the Democrats have caved in the most epic way.
Mitch McConnell offered them an out in order to save whatever face they have left — after even CNN gave them an unforgettable tongue-lashing.
The gist of the deal is that Dems would vote for government funding on the agreement that Republicans would debate DACA.
Except they were already debating DACA. So Dems essentially got a nothing-burger. Ouch.
Here’s more from Redstate…
The government shutdown ended today and to call this phase anything other than an abject and total humiliation of Chuck Schumer (I exaggerate because you have to have a sense of shame in order to be humiliated) is an understatement. Schumer had tried to make a DACA agreement part of the the funding battle, an in this effort he was assisted by Republicans like Lindsey Graham. In the end, he was placed in the position of choosing between a protracted fight on DACA or the CHIP program. This was a fight he could not win and would never had undertaken if he’d had a modicum of respect for Mitch McConnell. Keep that thought in mind going forward.
When McConnell dictated terms of surrender last night, Schumer was worse off in terms of the deal plus his party had taken such a beating in the polls that even reliable cheerleaders like CNN were saying they needed to call it quits. In return for a continuing resolution that lasts until February 8 and a six year extension of CHIP (some Democrats in the media are saying this is win for Democrats because Republicans can’t hold CHIP hostage if there is another shutdown, but this is stupid. The GOP is damned glad to get this issue off the table and to be able to do it looking like the defender of the program), Schumer gets a promise that DACA will be debated. In particular, McConnell said that the debate would be conducted without prejudice in favor of any bill.
I doubted it was possible, but Dems have actually lost a shutdown fight. Schumer has agreed to end the filibuster in exchange for practically nothing. Make no mistake: Schumer & Dems caved. What a political fiasco.
— Brit Hume (@brithume) January 22, 2018
