Did Chuck Schumer Sell out Democratic Activists in Shutdown Negotiations?

President Trump signed a bill to end the government shutdown a little before 9pm in Washington. The deal was relatively simple. Democrats agreed to provide votes for a Senate bill that kept the government operational for three more weeks, until February 8. In return, the bill extending the Children’s Health Insurance Program for six years, ending a four-month lapse in long-term funding for the popular program. Also, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell agreed to begin a regular order committee process for an immigration deal.

Left out of the deal was the dreamers, undocumented immigrants brought to the country when they were minors, who were protected by DACA under President Obama. President Trump ended the program in September 2017, but the protections don’t fully lapse until March of this year. However, DACA recipients who either did not reapply due to fear of giving more information to the Trump administration, and those whose DACA status expires in the gap between September and March, are still at risk of deportation.

Democrats had demanded that DACA be part of a deal to reopen the government. Now, immigration activists and the Democrat’s left flank are furious with them. Their argument — the Democrats went back on a promise they made to their base, and putting trust in Leader McConnell is laughable given his history of reneging on bipartisan compromises.

But realistically, this deal is pretty good for Democrats and the needs of their coalition. It’s nowhere near perfect. It’s certainly the case that some dreamers risk deportation between now and February 8, and that uncertainty is causing serious hardship even for those dreamers whose status is protected into March. But the strategic position the Democrats have put themselves in is even stronger than it was before. Activists, who are often much closer to the day-to-day hardships of vulnerable communities than leaders in Washington, don’t have much time for, “but our strategic negotiating position is stronger now” arguments.

That doesn’t mean the activists are right, though. The decision that Democratic leaders made this week will, in the long run, lead to more policy victories that the left cares about than if they had dug in on “DACA or shutdown” threats this time…

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