últimas notícias

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced he will take up legislation next week incorporating the deal President Trump outlined in a Saturday afternoon address that supporters hope will end a partial government shutdown now entering its second month.

The Kentucky Republican’s move to bring the deal up for a vote will put political pressure on Democrats in both chambers, who through their leaders publicly rejected Trump’s proposal Saturday afternoon.

It would take 60 votes to advance the measure in the Senate, which means Republicans will need the support of seven Democrats to pass the measure, assuming no GOP lawmakers vote against it.

The shutdown has increasingly hurt the operations of dozens of partially closed federal agencies and has left 800,000 federal workers without paychecks.

“I intend to move to this legislation this week,” McConnell said in a statement after Trump’s announcement. “With bipartisan cooperation, the Senate can send a bill to the House quickly so that they can take action as well. The situation for furloughed employees isn’t getting any brighter and the crisis at the border isn’t improved by show votes. But the President’s plan is a path toward addressing both issues quickly.”

But Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer indicated he’ll push Democrats to block the bill, which they said only partially accomplishes the full legal status and pathway to citizenship that Democrats have long sought for “Dreamers,” who illegally entered the country as children.

“Offering some protections back in exchange for the wall is not a compromise but more hostage taking,” Schumer said in a statement Saturday.

The New York Democrat said Trump “keeps putting forward one-sided and ineffective remedies.” Schumer blamed Trump for initially revoking the protected status of “Dreamers.”

Trump’s offer would provide a three-year extension of protected legal status for those enrolled in the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. As part of the trade-off, the proposal calls for $5.7 billion for a border wall, which Democrats have so far opposed and refuse to agree to fund at any price.

Democratic leaders, however, rejected Trump’s offer in part because they are seeking permanent legal status and a pathway to citizenship for the “Dreamers” not something temporary.

House Democrats said next week they’ll instead take up border security provisions in legislation that does not include wall funding.