Democratic senator and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) rallied almost all left-wing Democrats to block government funding because they didn’t get what they wanted: a no-strings-attached amnesty for millions of illegal aliens.
Much of the mainstream media pinned the resulting “government shutdown” on those who favor enforcing our immigration laws as written. This makes no sense. To fund a spending bill, you need a simple majority (currently 216 votes) in the House of Representatives, and 60 votes in the Senate. Republicans have 239 members in the House, and they easily passed a funding bill with 94 percent of the party voting in favor. Conversely, in the Senate, Republicans only have 51 of the needed 60 votes, so Democrats were able to block the funding bill.
So let’s be honest about what is actually happening here: Democrats in Congress held the welfare of American citizens hostage, demanding that the open borders lobby get their way. They sent citizens home without pay, and recklessly jeopardized both healthcare funding and soldier pay, because they want an amnesty for illegal aliens.
Reportedly, Democrats only became willing to vote for a funding deal that re-opens the government after promises to hold an amnesty vote in the coming weeks.
However, Democrats still refuse to negotiate in good faith. President Trump has offered to give them exactly what they originally asked for – protection for DACA recipients – in exchange for common sense immigration reforms and border security. Schumer refused the offer – even though he, personally, has agreed to almost every one of those provisions in the past.
Finally, the American people opposed Schumer’s shutdown. A CNN/SSRS poll found that 56 percent of American favor funding the government, even it means forgoing an amnesty deal for DACA recipients. Only 34 percent believe that amnesty for DACA recipients is something worth shutting down the government over.
American citizens deserve to have their interests represented first by Congress. Schumer’s shutdown didn’t do that. Senate leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and congressional Republicans must stand tall and refuse to sacrifice American interests to protect illegal aliens. And congressional Democrats should be ashamed of themselves for prioritizing illegal aliens over the welfare of American citizens.