1/18/2019

BORDER/DEMS/DREAMERS/GOVERNMENT/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/WALL: “President Trump, facing a growing public backlash over the partial government shutdown, shifted course on Saturday [1-19-19] and offered Democrats a deal: temporary protections for roughly 700,000 young undocumented immigrants in exchange for $5.7 billion in funding for a wall along the southern border. But the proposal, which Mr. Trump unveiled in a 13-minute address from the White House, appeared dead on arrival in the Capitol. Speaker Nancy Pelosi rejected it even before Mr. Trump spoke, and Senator Chuck Schumer, the Democratic leader, denounced the offer as ‘not a compromise but more hostage taking.’ With the shutdown entering its fifth week and polls showing a majority of the public blaming Mr. Trump, the president’s advisers have been searching for an exit strategy. Saturday’s speech grew out of talks that Vice President Mike Pence and the president’s son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, have had in recent days with lawmakers including Senator Mitch McConnell, the majority leader.”

Annie Karni and Sheryl Gay Stolberg, “Trump Offers Temporary Protections for ‘Dreamers’ in Exchange for Wall Funding,” The New York Times online, January 18, 2019