12-15-2018, 06:34 PM
(12-15-2018, 03:33 PM)Eric the Green Wrote: I think I should give credit where credit is due. The Senate is at times a place where bipartisan compromise occasionally happens. This may now be also true in the new House in 2019, although now the Senate will be tilted further to the right, and Trump will need only 7 instead of the 10 Democrats he says he needs to support his unwise and extreme policies.Of coarse, the situation is much different now. We have a Republican Senate that isn't going to vote against Trump and slit their own throats like Democrats. We have a Republican in the White House who doesn't care about his image with the liberal press. Trump has one Democratic leader to contend with in the House who seems to be opposed to adding more AMERICAN border security which Americans know is unpopular with the her supporters and unpopular with the world but seems to have the support by most American citizens/voters these days. So, it's up to her whether she wants to start her second reign as Speaker with a government shutdown that she can't defend herself or defend her position against the criticism coming from unhappy Americans on her side who will be loosing wages for the sake of illegal immigration.
On the Newshour it was reported that two compromise bills were passed in the Senate recently. Senators Grassley and Durbin were leaders in this, and Trump is supporting them. Criminal justice reform will increase the likelihood that prison sentences will fit the crime and that rehabilitation will be available. Drug and other non-violent offenders will have increased access to treatment. Another bipartisan farm bill was passed, which gives price supports to farmers and also restores money for food stamps. Extremist anti-environmental elements were taken out of the bill. I believe the White House is supporting this bill as well.
In earlier times, bipartisan immigration reform passed the Senate and was killed in the House. Now Trump is at loggerheads with Democrats on this issue.