By MARSHA MERCER
Oh, the drama! The intrigue! The suspense!
President Donald Trump threatens to shut down the federal
government just before Christmas if he doesn’t get $5 billion to build his
border wall.
“I am proud to shut down the government for border
security,” he said Tuesday during a testy, 17-minute, on-camera exchange with Democratic
leaders Sen. Chuck Schumer and Rep. Nancy Pelosi.
Trump orchestrated live reality TV from the Oval
Office when he invited Schumer and Pelosi to negotiate, then argued in public and
violated the cardinal political rule of a government shutdown: He owned
it.
“I will be the one to shut it down. I’m not going to
blame you for it,” Trump said.
After pledging to make Mexico pay for the border wall,
Trump asked Congress for $25 billion to build it. Congress appropriated $1.6
billion for fencing. Senate Democrats have offered to extend the current spending,
but House Democrats are balking at more than $1.3 billion.
Trump’s strategy, if he has one, is baffling congressional
Republicans who would share blame if a shutdown occurs.
“I’m on the record saying numerous times I think a
shutdown is a fool’s errand. Every shutdown we’ve been in, nobody wins. So I’m
very discouraged by that,” said Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, Republican of West
Virginia, The Washington Post reported.
Schumer and Pelosi stood their ground at the meeting, a
sign of the tempestuous times ahead in divided government.
“The American people recognize that we must keep the
government open, that a shutdown is not worth anything, and that we should not
have a Trump shutdown,” Pelosi told the president.
All this makes for riveting TV but terrible
government. Funding gaps lead to shutdowns when our leaders fail to do their
constitutional duty.
“No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in
Consequence of Appropriations made by Law,” Article 1, Section 9, Clause 7 of
the Constitution says.
Shutdowns literally show us a government that doesn’t
work.
During the October 2013 shutdown, private citizen
Trump tweeted: “Government is shut down yet Obama is now harassing the
privately owned @Redskins to change its name. He needs to focus on his job!”
Shutdowns actually cost taxpayers. Agencies take their
systems down and bring them back up. They send workers home on furlough but
eventually pay them for the days they were idle. Millions of dollars in fees go
uncollected.
After the 16-day shutdown in 2013, furloughed workers
received an estimated $2.5 billion in pay and benefits, the Office of
Management and Budget reported. The National Park Service estimated the
shutdown cost $500 million in lost tourist revenue to the parks and surrounding
communities, OMB said.
We shouldn’t be at the precipice again. Congress has
passed and Trump has signed five of the 12 spending bills for the fiscal year
that began Oct. 1, funding about 75 percent of the government through next
September.
So, if there is a shutdown, only 25 percent of the
government would be hit. Defense would be unaffected and Social Security,
Medicare and Medicaid recipients would get their benefits. But Congress still must
pass the remaining seven bills by midnight Dec. 21 or risk angering millions of
Americans deprived of services.
The way out is through old-fashioned, unsexy,
effective compromise. Trump should agree to a path to citizenship or legal
status for more than 1 million “dreamers,” young people who were brought to
this country illegally as children.
Democrats, despite their hatred of the wall, need to
show they care about border security with increased technology and personnel
and even building segments of the wall -- in places that are not
environmentally sensitive.
Polls, unsurprisingly, show people polarized on the
issue. Fifty-seven percent of Americans overall want the president to
compromise and avoid a government shutdown, but two-thirds of Republicans want
him to stand tough, an NPR/PBS News Hour/Marist Poll reported this week.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky told
reporters he’s “hoping for a Christmas miracle” to end the standoff and avoid a
shutdown.
We don’t need a miracle. We just need Congress and the
president to do their jobs.
(C)2018 Marsha Mercer. All rights reserved.
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