Courtesy: Senator Dick Durbin
Views from the Edge contributed to this report
Three Asian American senators held firm in their support of DACA and rejected the latest Republican proposal on a measure that would have extended the budget deadline.
Democratic Senators Mazie K. Hirono(D-Hawaii), Kamala Harris (D-California), and Tammy Duckworth (D-Illinois) — voted against the proposal as they promised they would, because the GOP proposal didn’t have any resolution for the fate of the 800,000 Dreamers in the DACA program.
The failure by the Republican controlled Congress and the united Democrats to find a solution forced the government to shut down.
Republicans are calling this the Schumer Shutdown after Democratic leader Senator Chuck Schumer. They blame the Democrats for the the nation’s military losing their paychecks during this impasse.
Duckworth, a purple heart veteran, fired back.
This is right on. @SenDuckworth, a Thai-born former Army helicopter pilot who lost both legs in Iraq, responds appropriately to Trump’s reckless shutdown rhetoric: “I will not be lectured about what our military needs by a five-deferment draft dodger.” pic.twitter.com/nkFXpMFMEo
— Jamil Smith (@JamilSmith) January 21, 2018
Democrats are calling this the Trump Shutdown.
After the late night vote, Sen. Hirono released the following statement on the government shutdown:
“Tonight, Mitch McConnell, Paul Ryan, and Donald Trump turned things upside down. They’ve spent the past year working behind closed doors to take away health care from millions of people and pass huge tax cuts for the richest people and corporations in our country without input from Democrats or the public. At the same time, they’ve ignored reauthorizing the Children’s Health Insurance Program, funding Community Health Centers, protecting DREAMers, and providing parity between defense and non-defense programs. All of these issues have bipartisan support and should have gotten done months ago.
“Republicans are in charge of the House, the Senate, and the Presidency. They are in charge of setting the time table and the agenda, and now they’re blaming the Democrats for their own misplaced priorities.
“Congress is a separate branch of government. Instead of bowing to the unpredictable, mercurial, and unreliable positions of the President, we should do our jobs and send the President a government funding bill that addresses all of these priorities.”
We're here in the Capitol fighting for #Dreamers, children, and families across the country. @SenatorDurbin & I heard from some of these inspirational young people today. Their stories keep us going. pic.twitter.com/1Ym7H55Pc5
— Senator Mazie Hirono (@maziehirono) January 21, 2018
Sen. Kamala Harris said:
“This shutdown was avoidable. The (White House) created this crisis & the GOP leaders in Congress refused to negotiate with Democrats. We must pass a bipartisan solution to fund the government, guarantee health care for millions of kids & protect Dreamers. Americans expect & deserve it.”
History is going to show that Republicans are on the wrong side of this fight. They are standing in the way of fairness and justice for Dreamers, for kids who need health care, and for federal employees facing furloughs when they live paycheck to paycheck. Enough with the games. pic.twitter.com/HFcugMYfrG
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) January 20, 2018
Under intense lobbying from their constituents, Democrats have vowed to not approve any budget that doesn’t include a resolution to extend a resolution to the status of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, instituted by President Obama.
Trump ended the program in September and gave Congress until March, 2018 to come up with a legislative solution to the children who were brought to the U.S. by their undocumented parents.
While both political parties, Trump and the American public say they want to keep the Dreamers in the U.S., the Republicans added a must-have of their own. Trump wants funding for the Damn Wall along the U.S.-Mexico border along with the DACA resolution. The Damn Wall is a deal-breaker for the Democrats but Trump insists that it be part of any bargain.
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RE: Asian American Senators Keep Promise on DACA:These Senators are traitors to the American people.
We want our immigration laws enforced. Deport the dreamers and their parents.
RE: Asian American Senators Keep Promise on DACA: To Galactus999: I absolutely agree! Moreover, there are only 17,000 DACA applicants who self-identify as “Asian.” This number is clearly not enough to warrant all the expense to taxpayers. Most so-called Dreamers are already in their 30’s— they could greatly benefit by traveling back to their parents’ country to discover new opportunities and relearn the local language — expand their horizons! Many US citizens would welcome such an opportunity and many in their “gap” year are traveling to such Dreamers’ countries as India, Pakistan, South Korea, and the Philippines. What exactly do DACAers find objectionable to living in these 4 countries????