The government will not be reopened.
At least not barring some sudden and dramatic shift -- because the reality remains: things are still frozen.
This week is all about pressure -- and forcing the other side to blink. Yes, that's been an unstated goal for both parties throughout the last month or so, but with real proposals on the table, real votes on the floor and real pain coming in the form of a second missed paycheck for 800,000 workers, the stakes will only become more acute.
Reality check
Democratic leaders and President Donald Trump haven't spoken in more than 10 days, aides say.
Where things stand
Democratic leaders were out opposing Trump's proposal before he even announced it on Saturday, presenting a united front that, at least at this point, no Democrat has sought to break ranks from. The proposal will likely receive its first procedural vote on Thursday, CNN's Ted Barrett reports. Republicans need seven Democrats to break with their leaders to advance. Democratic aides are confident Republicans will fall far short of that number.
The dynamics
The key to understanding why things are the way they are has been the same for more than a month now -- completely divergent bottom lines, coupled with a complete lack of political incentive to shift course.
Democrats oppose Trump on the policy, but their broader issue has been dissuading the White House of the notion they can use funding deadlines as a way to get policy concessions. "This is bigger than just this negotiation, bigger than just the next few weeks," one senior Democratic aide told CNN. "This is about the next two years."
For the vast majority of both Republican conferences, there is no incentive to buck the President -- particularly on his premiere policy goal and campaign promise. Do they agree with him or it? Not uniformly, and the frustration among rank-and-file GOP senators with the whole shutdown is very real. As each day goes by, that frustration is channeled more and more toward Democrats, who they view as intransigent for being unwilling to entertain policy changes until the government is reopened.
"The idea the President and Republicans are going to get nothing out of this just isn't reality," one GOP official involved in the talks told CNN. "We control the White House and the Senate -- the idea that at this point, with the President in this position, our side would just capitulate makes no sense."
What to read
CNN's Clare Foran and Alex Rogers lay it all out here.
The Senate GOP proposal details
As CNN reported Saturday night, the Senate Republican proposal goes beyond what the President laid out in his remarks -- the $5.7 billion for a border wall, $800 million in humanitarian aid, additional border agents and immigration judges, to go with temporary protections for those covered under the Defered Action for Childhood Arrivals program and Temporary Protected Status. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, in an effort to increase pressure on Democrats, worked to include all seven unpassed House-Senate negotiated funding bills, as well as $12.7 billion in disaster aid and extensions of things such as the Violence Against Women Act.
Read all 1,301 pages yourself here.
It took a lot to pull McConnell off the sidelines, where his stated position was Democrats and Trump need to figure this all out. The back and forth last week between Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Trump, particularly on the State of the Union invitation, led McConnell to decide he needed to get involved to try and jar something loose, two sources say. There's an added benefit for the Kentucky Republican however: the Senate now has a proposal -- and votes on that proposal -- that will pull some of the air out of the growing pressure balloon of inaction related to all of the House Democratic proposals to reopen the government.
One other key piece to remember: McConnell's skepticism about a short-term "clean" proposal to reopen the government -- the kind House Democrats have been passing -- is not only because of Trump's opposition, but also his own version of a long game. The view, according to people familiar with his position, is that Republicans and Democrats are in it now, and the only way out is to find a long-term solution. Any short-term action would only lead to the same place -- entrenched parties and the threat of another shutdown -- a few weeks or a month later. In other words, find a solution that ends this for good (or at least until September) or face an entire year or more of this repeated fight.
Yes, that means McConnell's longer game and the long game of Democratic leaders aren't even remotely aligned. Yes, that's a problem when it comes to actually finding a pathway out of the shutdown.
Given rather limited chance the Senate actually votes to advance the proposal, there's another key piece here for Republicans, according to aides and senators: it serves to give the GOP a clear line of attack they've been without for the last month: there is a proposal explicitly supported by the President now on the table, and Democrats aren't even willing to negotiate -- and are likely to vote down the one thing that could reopen the government.
The asylum provisions
The whole purpose of the Trump proposal was to be seen as a "compromise" -- giving a little to get some. A read of the bill -- and the Democratic response on the policy -- makes clear they don't view it that way. The temporary protections for DACA only apply to those currently enrolled, not the whole universe of those eligible. There are changes to how the TPS program works. While Democrats have in the past supported temporary protections, it's a position that has largely fallen by the wayside as DACA has moved to the courts. A permanent solution is the stated goal and position, and this proposal isn't that. And perhaps the thing you're about to hear the most about in the coming days is the asylum changes proposed in the bill as they related to Central American child migrants.
Now to be clear here: this was considered a compromise -- Democrats, in closed door talks, talked about the value of in-country processing locations to apply for asylum in embassies and consulates in certain Central American countries. The Trump administration seeks to grant that, but in exchange, imposing significant restrictions on asylum applicants, as well as granting the authority to immediately deport any Central American migrant who reaches the border without applying for asylum in their own country. The restrictions are intended to serve as a message to anyone considering coming to the border that there is no path into the U.S. But the way they are drafted will draw sharp opposition from Democrats, according to aides.
Immigration advocates are already deeply opposed to the changes. Expect to hear a lot more about this from Democrats in the days ahead as they seek to underscore the point that, in their view, the bill is hardly a compromise.
The House Democratic proposal details
House Democrats will vote on Wednesday on their own proposal -- one that would take them into double-digit bills the new majority has passed to reopen the government in the last three weeks. The package will contain six appropriations measures agreed to by bipartisan House and Senate negotiators, with an additional $1 billion in border security money -- including infrastructure and technology enhancements for things like ports of entry. House Democrats, as they have done for weeks, will pass this proposal to reopen the government and kick it over to the Senate, with limited Republican support. While McConnell is now involved in the legislative process, he still will not take up any House bill the president opposes, and the president opposes this bill, too.
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