Trump Tells Congressional Republicans To 'Stop Wasting Their Time on Immigration'
President Donald Trump on Friday castigated Democrats for refusing to pass immigration bills and said Republicans should “stop wasting their time” trying to craft legislation that the minority party will never back.
Instead, Trump tweeted, the GOP should focus its efforts on November’s midterm elections so that Republicans will not need Democratic votes to pass legislation in the Senate.
Although the GOP has a majority in the Senate, Senate rules require 60 votes on most major legislation. Those rules all but ensure that any bill passing the Senate be a compromise that includes the needs and wants of both parties.
Trump’s tweets follow a week in which the House has failed to develop a bill that can garner the support of both conservative and moderate lawmakers. A conservative bill crashed and burned Thursday. A more moderate bill is currently up for a vote next week, The Hill reported.
That bill also faces opposition.
“It is not a compromise,” House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said this week, according to Fox News.
“It may be a compromise with the devil, but it is not a compromise with the Democrats,” the California Democrat said.
Trump voiced his frustration at continued negotiations that do not produce results.
Republicans should stop wasting their time on Immigration until after we elect more Senators and Congressmen/women in November. Dems are just playing games, have no intention of doing anything to solves this decades old problem. We can pass great legislation after the Red Wave!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 22, 2018
“Republicans should stop wasting their time on Immigration until after we elect more Senators and Congressmen/women in November. Dems are just playing games, have no intention of doing anything to solves this decades old problem. We can pass great legislation after the Red Wave!” Trump tweeted.
Trump noted that Democrats are committed to a policy of inaction.
Elect more Republicans in November and we will pass the finest, fairest and most comprehensive Immigration Bills anywhere in the world. Right now we have the dumbest and the worst. Dems are doing nothing but Obstructing. Remember their motto, RESIST! Ours is PRODUCE!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 22, 2018
Ever since taking office, Trump has targeted Senate rules that allow a minority party to filibuster legislation to stall its passage. He said Friday those rules show the need for a bigger Republican majority.
Even if we get 100% Republican votes in the Senate, we need 10 Democrat votes to get a much needed Immigration Bill – & the Dems are Obstructionists who won’t give votes for political reasons & because they don’t care about Crime coming from Border! So we need to elect more R’s!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 22, 2018
“Even if we get 100% Republican votes in the Senate, we need 10 Democrat votes to get a much needed Immigration Bill – & the Dems are Obstructionists who won’t give votes for political reasons & because they don’t care about Crime coming from Border!” Trump tweeted. “So we need to elect more R’s!”
Rep. Mark Sanford, a South Carolina Republican opposed to Trump, said the president’s tweets make it harder to pass legislation, CNN reported.
“It takes the wind out of the sails in what might have been a fairly productive week in terms of looking for a compromise,” Sanford said.
“Because if you look at how contentious this issue is, how much emotion there is, you know, without the President being out front, without the President having legislators’ backs, there’s no way they would take the risk that would be inherent in a major reform bill.”
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