What the Hell? They're Closed!

I originally posted this image back on Wednesday, October 2, 2013 during the last government shut down.   

Well, here we go again, another government shutdown.  

• Republicans say they won’t negotiate on immigration until Democrats vote to reopen government. 
• Democrats say they won’t vote to reopen government until Republicans negotiate on immigration. 

Well gosh darn, that's quite an impasse there, dontcha know? So how are these kids working it out?  

• In the House, after Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) delivered a blistering speech blaming Democrats for the shutdown, which he called a “shakedown,” the presiding officer in the House at the time, Rep. Randy Hultgren (R-Ill.), refused to recognize Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) for a response. That breach of decorum ― it’s customary for whoever is in the chair to recognize the minority leader if he or she wants to speak ― led to a shouting match on the House floor, which in turn led to lawmakers having to come to the chamber to, in effect, take attendance.
• In the Senate, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) blamed Democrats and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) for a “manufactured crisis.” Schumer slammed McConnell and Republicans for governing via stopgap spending measures, for chronically delaying a compromise on the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) immigration program, and for crafting partisan bills without consulting Democrats and then blaming them for not going along. “In our democracy, you have to compromise if you wish to govern” Schumer said.

The answer is not well.  

There were signs of a possible compromise Friday when Schumer and Trump met at the White House for lunch.

According to a source familiar with the discussions, Schumer and Trump discussed a DACA bill in exchange for Republicans’ full defense spending request and the possibility of Trump’s full border request, which would include money for a wall. Both men said they felt like they were close to a big deal, but probably needed a bill to continue government funding for a few days as they hammered out the details.

After some more back-and-forths between Schumer and Trump ― and Schumer and McConnell ― Trump’s chief of staff, John Kelly, called Schumer Friday night and said the framework of the DACA deal was too liberal. The deal was off.

Remember Trump said last week that he would sign off on any immigration bill that Congress worked out. Then Li'l Donnie apparently forgot he said that when someone (probably on Fox News) reminded him that Democrats have cooties and the DACA deal might make Obama happy so...

Once again, the self professed dealmaker in chief succeeds in screwing up a deal.  

Then as if he needed, Trump got help from Paul Ryan.  McConnell was open to voting on a deal for so-called Dreamers, but Ryan wouldn’t commit. That left Democratic senators feeling like their best route of negotiation was to vote against the continuing resolution.

Which brings us back to this.  

• Republicans say they won’t negotiate on immigration until Democrats vote to reopen government. 
• Democrats say they won’t vote to reopen government until Republicans negotiate on immigration. 

For more details on this story, click here.