[Edited from the Indivisible Team]
In the entire history of our country, the government has NEVER shut down when one party controlled the Congress and the White House. It’s called “governing,” and apparently the GOP government can’t do it.
How did we get here?
Trump launched an attack on Dreamers. In September, Trump announced he was unilaterally ending Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), a program that provides deportation relief and job permits for 800,000 young immigrants after an extensive (and expensive!) application and vetting process. When he rescinded DACA, Trump created a crisis that only his party could fix.
A week later, Democratic leaders Pelosi and Schumer met with Trump to strike a deal to fund the government until December, promising that Dreamers would be protected by that time. No deal was passed to protect Dreamers at that time and they kicked the can to January.
Last week, Trump and other Republicans blew up an existing bipartisan agreement to avert a shutdown, in service to their most racist ideas about America. This happened just one day after Trump said he would sign whatever agreement Congress sent him. Not once in the ongoing budget negotiations did Republicans put forward legislation that could pass both of the chambers of Congress… that they control! It’s clear that after months of negotiations to protect Dreamers, Democrats are working with a President that is negotiating in bad faith.
Now that Republicans just shut down the government over Trump’s bigoted agenda, here’s what we can do:
Call Senators Schumer and Gillibrand and thank them for voting to protect Dreamers, and to stand firm in current negotiations to end the Trump Shut Down.
Call Rep. Faso to urge him to change his vote to “No” on the next funding bill if it does not include protections for DREAMers. Call script here.`
More background on the history of DREAMer protections here:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2018/01/19/this-shutdown-crisis-was-at-least-17-years-in-the-making-heres-how-we-got-here/
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