It seems now that
Washington affairs have become so toxic that even a meeting between
Democratic and Republican congressional leaders is news, according to
POLITICO. The news outlet is reporting that the leaders “will meet
Wednesday with top White House officials as they attempt to hammer out a
deal to avert a government shutdown and resolve an impasse on
immigration.” Given the intensity of the issues involved, a broad
agreement seems unlikely. The meeting was initially expected to
include President Trump's chief of staff, John Kelly, but a White House
spokesman said legislative affairs director Marc Short and budget
director Mick Mulvaney would represent the president. The meeting is
seen as an effort by the President to force action on one of his most
iconic, divisive policy proposals: a wall on the southern U.S. border.
Trump has signaled in recent days that he would support a measure to
protect undocumented immigrants who arrived in the country as minors in
exchange for wall funding and other stiff border security measures
that Democrats have ardently opposed. "The Democrats have been told,
and fully understand, that there can be no DACA without the desperately
needed WALL at the Southern Border and an END to the horrible Chain
Migration & ridiculous Lottery System of Immigration etc," Trump
tweeted Friday morning. "We must protect our Country at all cost!"
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck
Schumer brushed off the president's tweet. "We're not going to
negotiate through the press and look forward to a serious negotiation
at Wednesday's meeting when we come back," said Pelosi spokesman Drew
Hammill. Pelosi and Schumer will join Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky, in the meeting on
Wednesday afternoon. Short and Mulvaney's lead role in the
negotiations is a break from similar meetings in recent months, when
Democrats have walked away emboldened and claiming to have won
concessions from Trump. After a September session at the White House,
Trump joined Pelosi and Schumer to punt a series of fiscal negotiations
until early December. Democrats bailed on the most recent planned
meeting of the four leaders in November, though, after Trump tweeted
that an immigration deal was unlikely. Trump told The New York Times on
Thursday that he believes a bipartisan solution on DACA is within
reach, though he said he wouldn't back any plan "without a wall." Rep.
Mark Meadows, R-N.C., chairman of the conservative Freedom Caucus,
said Friday that he's confident Trump won't sign any deal that doesn't
include his immigration priorities — from the wall to ending so-called
chain migration and the visa lottery program. "The president will veto
something that doesn't have those items in there," Meadows told the
press. "I firmly believe that." Well, this meeting looks very much like
a heavy-duty standoff just now, with extremely high political stakes
on both sides. At least a few commentators are suggesting that a DACA
deal has significant political support now, while support for an
expensive wall may have diminished, at least slightly. Still, the
emotional anti-immigration battles continue to be high priority for
many Americans, even as the need for off-shore labor grows in several
industries, including agriculture. So, this is a fight producers should
watch closely as it proceeds, Washington Insider believes.