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Senators left for the week no closer to an agreement to overhaul Immigration and Customs Enforcement and seemingly incapable of communicating with one another to avoid Department of Homeland Security funding from lapsing when it’s set to expire at the end of the day on Feb. 13.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., had designated Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., to run point on negotiations for Republicans, but Britt told reporters, “They’re not talking to anybody.”
Thune said, “Senator Britt made repeated efforts yesterday to engage with the Democrats, and so far, like I said, it’s been crickets on their side.”
Asked whether Democrats have reached out to Republicans to discuss the path forward, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said, “Ask the Republicans.”
“The Republicans don’t have their act together,” he said. “No. 1, it’s on them. And second, our appropriations committees are talking.”
Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., told reporters, “I mean, obviously we’re having trouble figuring out the path forward.”
The consensus appears to be that Trump needs to get involved, particularly since DHS funding is set to expire in eight days.
“With a week gone by, it looks like that it needs to go ahead and head to the White House now,” Britt said.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, said: “I am very grateful to the president for his engagement and in making sure that we were able to complete our work with those appropriations bills. I think he needs to demonstrate that same level of commitment to the cause here, he and his team, and I think that that’s going to help us get this resolved.”
Murphy said: “This does seem to be a negotiation that’s better at the leadership level. I think it’s a little strange that Thune does not want to negotiate. He’s probably right that the White House needs to be involved.”
Senators’ responses have resembled the Spider-Man meme in which everyone is pointing at someone else trying to figure out who’s responsibility it is to act next.
“We made more overtures, just like, hey, can we sit down? Then we all saw what happened last night with the three expanding to 10 demands,” Britt said. “And so it just seems like, if you actually want an outcome here, that you would begin dialog with Republicans.”
But even Schumer can’t agree that Democrats are now asking for 10 things (as they did last night) instead of the three things they originally requested.
“We had three basic objectives, and from the beginning we listed three or four things to accomplish those objectives. In each one, we have not expanded it,” Schumer said.
“Nothing will get done until we know what the Republicans are for, OK?” he said. “They have to get their act together.”
