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Dems New Offer To Include $5 Billion for Border ‘Smart Wall’

The Democratic Party has a new deal that just might entice President Trump.

According to multiple reports, House Democrats are drafting a new offer to bring Republicans and President Trump back to the table and find a solution to the impasse that has lead to the longest government shutdown in history.

The Democrats’ offer is expected to be announced Thursday night and include close to the $5 billion in funding that Trump is demanding but with the funds earmarked for “border security” and not a physical wall.

House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.) announced Democrats’ willingness to fund border security measures but not a wall on Wednesday.

“Using the figure that the president has put on the table, if his $5.7 billion is about border security then we see ourselves fulfilling that request, only doing what I like to call using a smart wall,” Clyburn told reporters after a Democratic caucus meeting. “These are the types of things that we are going to be putting forward.”

While what exactly Democrats are willing to fund to increase border security is unclear possible budget allocations could be for increased staffing, improved technology at border crossings and drones.

According to The Hill‘s report, Rep. John Yarmuth (D-Ky.), the chairman of the House budget committee, indicated that Democrats were open to building barriers and potentially even walls in some places provided there was evidence to show it would increase security.

“If we open the government, we’re open to any kind of negotiation,” he said, answering in the affirmative when asked if that included talks over building a wall.

The federal government has been shut down now for 33 days, leaving over 800,000 federal workers without pay. The shutdown resulted largely from a dispute between Democrats and Trump and his Republican party over funding for a physical border wall on the US-Mexico border.

Efforts were made by both the Democratic and Republican parties to reopen parts of the government while negotiations continued by Trump refused to sign any legislation that did not include funding for a border wall.

Over the weekend, Trump offered to temporarily extend protections for DACA immigrants in exchange for border wall funding. The protections would have been extended three years, but the Democrats refused the offer.

House leader Nancy Pelosi is expected to announce the Democrats new offer Thursday night after the Senate votes on two opposing funding bills. The first vote will be on Trump’s offer to offer temporary legal protections to DACA immigrants in exchange for $5.7 billion in funding for the border wall. If the vote fails, the Senate will then vote on the Democrats proposal to fund the government through February 8. Neither vote is expected to pass.

 

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Lauren von Bernuth

Lauren is one of the co-founders of Citizen Truth. She graduated with a degree in Political Economy from Tulane University. She spent the following years backpacking around the world and starting a green business in the health and wellness industry. She found her way back to politics and discovered a passion for journalism dedicated to finding the truth.

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1 Comment

  1. Rod Miller January 23, 2019

    President Trump will not go for it without the construction of at least 120 miles of wall. If he doesn’t get a wall, or some sort of physical barrier, he’ll veto anything that comes forward.

    I think Pelosi wants to disinvite President Trump from giving the State of the Union speech just to show him that she is the actual BOSS. It’s going to backfire on her when the blame for the government shut down gets switched over to her and Senator Schumer, considering that they both have made it clear to the public that they don’t like President Trump and are willing to sacrifice the safety of this nation (in my opinion) simply because of their personal hatred towards him.

    Reply

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