Remember when Democrats were so against government shutdowns? Apparently now they are in love with them. They are even threatening one if DACA isn’t passed in December. After Trump cut the government funding deal for three months (which expires December 16th), Democrats are now threatening that unless DACA is re-implemented, they will shut the government down. This is why Schumer and Pelosi were more than happy to cut the deal with Trump. They will now use this as leverage.
| Chicago Democrat Luis Gutierrez threatens Gov. shutdown unless DACA passes |
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He’s always been crystal clear about his allegiances. In 2010 he famously told Newsweek, “I have only one loyalty, and that’s to the immigrant community.” Watch his floor speech from yesterday below and you’ll find him celebrating DREAMers for having one loyalty as well, to the United States. If that’s true, they’re doing a better job with their priorities than he is.
Gutierrez is prepared to go to the mat for legalization this December by using the impending fiscal cliff as leverage. Are Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi?
Raul Grijalva, head of the House Progressive Caucus, claims that a heavy majority of members are prepared to go along with Gutierrez. There are 75 members of the caucus, making this a big problem for Pelosi and Schumer and, eventually, for Paul Ryan and Trump if Grijalva’s telling the truth about their commitment to driving a hard bargain on DREAM. Ryan could always pass a bill that raises the debt ceiling and funds the government in December on a party-line vote, without any DREAM Act attached, but that would mean the bill would need to satisfy conservatives in the Freedom Caucus, and in order to do that it would require steep spending cuts that probably would make it a non-starter for Senate Democrats. Ryan could try to thread the needle by passing a centrist bill opposed by both the Freedom Caucus and the Progressive Caucus, but Pelosi will come under intense pressure from Gutierrez and the left not to sign on to anything that doesn’t have a DREAM amnesty attached. Would she agree to that, knowing that a Democrat-led shutdown — or technical default — might result? Americans don’t like shutdowns and they really don’t like defaults. Engineering one to benefit people who aren’t even citizens might not play well politically.