364 days, 11 hours, and 59 minutes into the Trump Administration, the government shut down.
Just before midnight Friday, the Senate voted 50-49 on the continuing resolution to keep the government funded for a few more weeks (remember when we did this in December, too?). But this vote required 60 votes to pass — that means it failed because Republicans couldn’t put forth legislation that could pass with the required votes from Republicans and Democrats.
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 When he rescinded DACA, Trump created a crisis that only his party could fix.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 you can do to take action:
- Visit DreamerPledge.org to read Indivisible’s latest analysis. Find out if your members of Congress (MoCs) were Dream Heroes or Dream Killers tonight.
- Call your Senators using Indivisible’s toll-free line at 1-855-980-2355 . Use the Dream Hero call script if your Senator voted to protect Dreamers. And use the Dream Killer call script if your Senator voted to fund the government without protecting Dreamers. You’ll be prompted for your zip code and immediately connected to one of your Senators. Call back again and you’ll be connected to your other Senator!
- Chip in to support Indivisible’s organizing to hold Republicans who shut down the government accountable. 45 Republicans (5 Democrats!) sided with Trump’s racist agenda over 800,000 immigrant youth, the overwhelming majority of Americans who stand with Dreamers, and government employees who don’t know where their next paycheck will come from. Indivisibles are already holding them accountable and will continue to do so today, tomorrow, and on election day in November.
Immigrant youth have waited too long for a permanent solution to the crisis created by Trump’s vicious deportation agenda and terrible deal-making. 122 Dreamers lose their protection every day, and more than 16,000 have lost their DACAmented status since September. Dreamers’ lives shouldn’t be in limbo because Republicans can’t govern.
Republicans caused this shutdown. And it’s their responsibility to fix this mess by voting on bipartisan legislation — that we know will pass both chambers of Congress — to protect Dreamers and end the Trump Shutdown.
Jan 19