The Note: Shutdown deal leaves 17 days to solve decades' worth of issues
What comes next?
— -- The TAKE with Rick Klein
President Donald Trump and congressional leaders bought themselves 17 days to solve a set of thorny issues that haven’t been figured out for more than 17 years. (One of those days is Groundhog Day.)
The president clearly gets more out of the end of the shutdown, on terms agreed to by Senate Democrats, than Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. The lights are back on owing to nothing more than a promise to move to immigration next in the Senate – without a single guarantee about policy or process, not to mention the president’s positions.
What comes next?
It’s hard to find room for optimism for the Dreamers. Trump ignored their deadline in his statement. He is focused on border security – his campaign ad over the weekend claims that Democrats will be “complicit in every murder committed by illegal immigrants” – and already has a public commitment from Schumer for full border wall funding as part of a DACA deal.
Schumer and his fellow Democrats get to negotiate some more with "Jell-O", now with their own base livid about the shutdown showdown that fizzled out.
The deal to end the shutdown was predicated on trust. There’s not much of it left to go around inside or between the parties, and between virtually all political entities and the president.
The RUNDOWN with MaryAlice Parks
The blowback was big. Serious party infighting yesterday as progressives and Democratic-aligned civil rights groups balked at members of their own party in the Senate over the deal struck with Republicans.
The statements from political PACs on the far left – about some of their own Democrats – came in fast and pulled no punches. They called those Democrats who voted to reopen the government, “weak-kneed,” “centrist,” and baited into “empty promises.”
Sen. Chuck Schumer’s response? Being in the minority really stinks and their leverage was limited. Those Democrats who went along with deal talked about at least getting a commitment to bring up an immigration bill in the next few weeks at all and the success of moderate, bipartisan talks.
It was lost on no one that nearly every one of the rumored 2020 Democratic contenders in the Senate broke with Schumer. More valuable than donors, it’s grassroots door-knockers who will be key for anyone hoping to secure the party’s presidential nomination or the White House. A big question now is whether those young people and immigrant communities can still be won over with a “no” vote, or whether they will be too put off all together.
The TIP with Trish Turner
Turns out it wasn’t all talk behind the closed-door meetings between members of the bipartisan negotiation group attempting to find a DACA fix.
Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, used a Native American “talking stick” to keep order.
The senator said it was a gift from Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D.
It was passed around the group - even tossed, at times - to a senator who wanted to talk. It was a way to keep order amongst notoriously-chatty senators.
“I always said, ‘If you can’t catch the stick, then you couldn’t talk’,” said Rep. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va.
“The tribes use this [stick] in how they have order, and that was as close as we could get to order,” Manchin said.
The group even used basketballs to facilitate the conversation, Manchin recounted, particularly as the group got bigger and bigger, starting with 17 senators in recent days and ending Monday morning with 25.
“We went to the basketballs because the damn talking stick was too hard to catch,” Manchin said.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY
QUOTE OF THE DAY
"Let it be known – we will be watching, and will make sure voters this November know if their representatives stood for Dreamers or for their deportations." – Lorella Praeli, director of immigration policy and campaigns at the American Civil Liberties Union.
NEED TO READ
Trump signs funding bill to end shutdown, immigration debate continues. Following passage in the Senate and House, President Donald Trump on Monday night signed a bill to fund the government for three weeks and end the three-day-long federal government shutdown. (Mary Bruce, Mariam Khan, Trish Turner and Adam Kelsey) http://abcn.ws/2BkgHgk
Pence says US embassy in Jerusalem 'will open before the end of next year.' The change uproots years of U.S. policy that had left the issue of Jerusalem to final-status negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. Israel claims Jerusalem as its capital, while Palestinians say the eastern part of the city is their capital. (Ben Gittleson and Conor Finnegan) http://abcn.ws/2BkLkC6
Immigration activists outraged with Democrats over Senate vote to end government shutdown. Immigration activists were outraged with Democrats on Monday night after party leadership agreed to a short-term funding bill without protections for hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants who were brought to the United States as children. (Morgan Winsor) http://abcn.ws/2BmdjS5
Trump mocked over ‘childish’ shutdown voicemail, bad negotiation skills. The Trump administration tried its best to make it clear that it was not responsible for the recent two-day government shutdown, but critics said it turned “childish” when it decided to use the White House's voicemail to take jabs at Senate Democrats. (Karma Allen) http://abcn.ws/2E28Hn5
Nonprofit steps in to pay death benefits to families of soldiers killed in helicopter crash. Due to the government shutdown, the families did not receive the $100,000 death benefit provided for the death of a service member under any circumstance either stateside or overseas. (Elizabeth McLaughlin) http://abcn.ws/2n2Pavp
New reported chemical weapons attack in Syria as U.S. calls out Russia. "Russia has failed to rid Syria of chemical weapons, and they've been blocking chemical weapons organizations. Enough is enough," Under Secretary of State for Public Affairs Steve Goldstein told reporters Monday. (Conor Finnegan) http://abcn.ws/2F69xyt
Pennsylvania Supreme Court orders state’s congressional map redrawn. The move could have major implications for the Democratic Party’s ability to retake the U.S. House of Representatives in the 2018 midterm elections. (John Verhovek) http://abcn.ws/2rxFCNM
Cher tells women rallying in Las Vegas it's 'time to step up to the plate.' An outspoken critic of President Donald Trump, Cher implored the crowd to get out and vote in the upcoming midterm election, saying women won the right to vote in 1920 and that it's about time to "own it." (Bill Hutchinson) http://abcn.ws/2E0VniL
North Korean delegation is met with protests in Seoul ahead of Winter Olympics. As the delegation arrived at a Seoul train station before boarding a bus to the sites, around 50 protesters shouted slogans against North Korea and waved South Korean and American flags as she passed. Later the activists stomped on images of Kim Jong Un and set their banner on fire, which was extinguished by police. (Julia MacFarlane) http://abcn.ws/2Dz41YP
From the New York Times, “1 Son, 4 Overdoses, 6 Hours,” is a story about a family struggling with opioid addiction in New Hampshire, where the government estimates 10 percent of residents are addicted to alcohol or drugs. http://nyti.ms/2n0U646
“What makes corruption such an effective weapon is the difficulty of proving that it even exists, or that its purpose is political,” writes former Vice President Joe Biden in a recent article co-bylined with Michael Carpenter. “How to Stand Up to the Kremlin” was published in the most recent issue of Foreign Affairs. http://fam.ag/2jg1yGE
The Note is a daily ABC News feature that highlights the key political moments of the day ahead. Please check back tomorrow for the latest.