Ridiculous budget deal chops Trump's previous wimpy immigration enforcement request by 75%

This is what you get when no one is serious about the immigration problem, including Donald Judas Trump.

Negotiators reach deal ‘in principle’ to avert shutdown:

The tentative deal includes $1.375 billion for physical barriers — a type of fencing that resembles the “steel slats” that Trump has specifically called for, according to a congressional aide briefed on the talks. It includes a total of 55 miles, which is just 9 miles shy of Trump’s last budget request. ...

The final deal is only slightly higher than Democrats' offer of $1.3 billion for border fencing and falls far short of Trump's demand for $5.7 billion in border wall funding that led to the government shutdown in December. And if Trump doesn't agree to sign the bill, negotiators could be back at square one, staring down another potential shutdown later this week.

Trump threatens to take down border wall in California, reinstall it in Arizona and Texas

Haha.

Trump: "Nancy Pelosi Will Be Begging For A Wall"

Trump gave away 75% of federal spending as a shutdown bargaining chip over immigration in Sept. 2018, so before Sept. 2019 his only other chip is the debt ceiling

Flashback to September 28, 2018:

Trump signs spending bill, preventing shutdown:

President Trump on Friday signed an $854 billion spending package that will avert a shutdown by keeping the federal government open into the new fiscal year, which begins Monday.

The measure fully funds most parts of the federal government through fiscal 2019, pushing off a deadline for a partial shutdown — and showdown over funding for Trump's proposed border wall — until early December. 

“The signing of this legislation marks a drastic turnaround in the way we have funded the government in recent years," said Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) in a statement announcing the signing. "As of today, 75 percent of the government is funded — on time and through an open, bipartisan process.” ...

As Shutdown Stretches on, Debt Ceiling Questions Loom:

[A]fter March 1, the government will need to take "extraordinary measures" to avoid defaulting, and those measures will last for a few months. Ordinary investors should be aware that in 2013, the last time it looked as though Congress might not raise the limit, the market avoided Treasury securities that matured around the dates when the government projected it would exhaust the extraordinary measures.

So, looking ahead, ordinary investors shouldn't be surprised if we see an increase in rates and a decline in liquidity if it looks like the debt ceiling fight is going to be dramatic again. The current state of the shutdown may presage such drama.

Jim Acosta has gone to The Wall, now visits The Aquarium

Walls don't work, except in Israel, the Vatican, at Pelosi's house, Obama's, Paul Ryan's, and . . . prisons

Screw the shutdown, screw the emergency, just build the wall already

Hey Doug Jones, D-AL, in 2018 YOU diverted $500 million of our money to build a wall in Jordan

Exclusive: Pentagon prepares options to build border wall as Trump weighs emergency declaration:

Sen. Doug Jones, D-Ala., a member of the committee,  said Thursday that he hopes Trump doesn’t declare an emergency and divert military money to build a wall. “Congress is concerned about the overreach, and I think the American public is concerned about the overreach of the executive branch of government right now,” Jones said.

Israel's wall has been very effective, but Hungarian razor wire was just as effective, was cheaper, and went up much faster

Democrats take control of the US House and promptly vote to give away money . . . to foreigners

Democrat Spending Bill Offers $12 Billion More for Foreign Aid, $0 for Border Wall

Trump already compromised on The Wall, and that's the problem

Trump gave away 80% of what he wanted without getting anything in return.

It's political malpractice. 

Even worse, he's shut down the government now over the remaining 20% at the most politically inopportune time, having nothing left to bargain with.

The time to have done this was when Republicans were in control of Congress, in January 2017, or February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December, January 2018, February . . ..

Forgive us for thinking he was never serious about The Wall, at all.

The Wall is now and may always have been simply a political tool, like opposition to abortion. He stopped being serious about it in August 2016 after the immigration issue secured him the nomination, when this "advisor", Kellyanne Conway, came on board from the Ted Cruz campaign, which likewise was never serious about The Wall. Ted had one throwaway line about immigration in his entire speech announcing his candidacy, that's it. It was Trump who completely blindsided him and the rest of the Republican field with the issue. But ever since it's only red meat for the base. He never made it a priority, and fired the only person actively pursuing immigration reform in his administration, Attorney General Jeff Sessions. That's how unimportant The Wall has been to the president. 

The Wall riles up the news, keeping Trump in it, that's all.

Kellyanne Conway: Trump "Already Compromised" On Border Wall Funding, Originally Asked for $25 Billion:

I believe the president has already compromised. He originally asked for $25 billion. The House is at $5.6 billion. They did their job. The Senate has to come back. It is a modest investment.

So why did Trump appoint a Secretary of Agriculture who doesn't support The Wall?

The only other explanation than the one below is that Trump isn't really serious about The Wall and never has been, and is only interested in how he can play the politics of The Wall.

Donald Trump can fund the border wall without congressional approval:

Opposition to the wall within Trump’s own administration has prevented progress on this issue, which is wildly popular with the GOP’s conservative base and is the consequence of the president surrounding himself with establishment advisers who have worked to thwart his populist agenda from within. For example, after being briefed on the concept of selling USDA commercial paper to pay for border security, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue’s then-Chief of Staff Heidi Green shot down the idea by curtly stating, “The secretary does not want the wall.”

Eight House Republicans who voted against funding The Wall include Amash and Upton in Michigan, eleven others didn't even bother to vote

Funding passed the US House 217-185 with 31 not voting.

Eight House Republicans voted against funding The Wall (the question involved in this piece of sausage, Child Protection Improvements Act of 2017, is humorously described as "On Motion to Concur in the Senate Amendment to the House Amendment to the Senate Amendment with Amendment", part of politicians' perennially deliberate efforts to obscure what the hell they are doing so that we tire of tracking it):

Justin Amash, MI-3

Ken Buck, CO-4

Carlos Curbelo, FL-26 (defeated in 2018)

Will Hurd, TX-23

Erik Paulsen, MN-3 (defeated in 2018)

Ros-Lehtinen, FL-27 (didn't run in 2018, seat flipped)

Fred Upton, MI-6

David Valadao, CA-21 (defeated in 2018)

Eleven House Republicans didn't bother to vote at all on funding The Wall:

Diane Lynn Black, TN-6 (didn't run in 2018, ran for governor and lost in primary)

Barbara Comstock, VA-10 (defeated in 2018)

Jeff Duncan, SC-3

Randy Hultgren, IL-14 (defeated in 2018)

Darrell Issa, CA-49 (didn't run in 2018, seat flipped)

Lynn Jenkins, KS-2 (didn't run in 2018)

Walter Jones, NC-3

Mia Love, UT-4 (defeated in 2018)

Kristi Noem, SD (didn't run in 2018, ran for governor and won)

Peter Roskam, IL-6 (defeated in 2018)

Dave Trott, MI-11 (didn't run in 2018, seat flipped)

[Red indicates they'll be back in the US House in January 2019, to torment us.]

Trump's $5 billion request would build just 100 miles of new wall, 115 miles of replacement barrier

Ted Cruz says Trump 'won't capitulate' over $5B demand, enough for 215 miles of border wall — half of it replacement:

[T]he $5 billion the House has approved for a border wall would be enough for about 215 miles of barrier. Less than half of that — about 100 miles, mostly in South Texas — would be frontier that doesn't already have a fence. The rest would go to replace older, less-effective fencing or to build secondary fencing. ...

Senior officials from the Homeland Security Department briefed journalists Friday afternoon on what the proposed $5 billion could accomplish. Their estimate of 215 miles' worth of new and replacement fencing works out to more than $23 million a mile, on average. That's far higher than the nearly 700 miles of barrier already in place along the 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexico border. Most of that was authorized under President George W. Bush, in the Secure Fences Act of 2006. The Government Accountability Office issued a report in 2009 that put the initial cost per mile at $2.8 to $3.9 million. But that was in urban areas, where roads were already in place. Some of the replacement fencing installed during the Trump administration has cost about $8 million a mile. The more remote the area, the higher the cost. Homeland Security officials insisted that comparisons are inappropriate. "Every mile of border is different," said one official. "It depends on the terrain" and other factors.

Since Trump took office, Congress has approved $341 million for 40 miles of replacement fencing and new gates in San Diego, New Mexico and West Texas, plus gates in the Rio Grande Valley to close gaps between existing fence. Of that, 34 miles is complete.

Earlier this year, Congress provided an additional $1.375 billion for about 84 miles of new and replacement border barrier. That includes levee wall in the Rio Grande Valley, with construction expected to start in February, plus some new wall construction in that area of South Texas, along with replacement barrier in Arizona and California. ...

When Congress authorized wall funding earlier this year, it restricted construction to designs already in use.

Trump has no veto weapon in the criminal justice reform bill to get the border wall

The criminal justice reform bill passed the Senate 87-12 on Tuesday and the House 358-36 on Thursday and awaits the president's signature.

He could hold it hostage to get what he wants on the wall today even though he supports the bill, but Congress has the votes to override his veto, 66 in the Senate and 287 in the House.

Worse still, a government shutdown tonight would shut down Homeland Security and the State Department only, both of which are kind of critical to controlling immigration in any event, wall or no wall.

The president has yet to come anywhere near mastering the art of getting what he wants in DC.

Lame Duck House passes $5 billion border wall funding attached to spending bill 217-185

House passes spending bill with border wall money — setting up shutdown stalemate with Senate:

During a televised Oval Office fracas last week, Pelosi challenged Trump by saying he did not have the votes for wall money in the House. It turns out he did.

It's EASY to understand opposition to the wall: The Wall effectively stops the inflow of drugs, off of which powerful people make money to buy members of Congress

Hey Trump! Money for border security is weasel words!

Money for a border wall isn't.

The country's a triangle apparently, and has a north coast: Nancy Pelosi oddly omits the east coast in border security statement

And you thought that 57 states thingy and hundreds of millions of Americans enrolling in Obamacare was just Obama.

Democrats evidently have spatial relations thinking impairment.

Pelosi: Democrats Are Not Going To Fund Trump's "Immoral" Border Wall:

We have a responsibility, all of us, to secure our borders, north, south, and coming in by plane, on our coasts -- three coasts, north, south and west. And that -- that's a responsibility we honor, but we do so by honoring our values, as well.

One term president is down to $5 billion for part of a wall: Lame Duck Republicans kick shutdown can from tomorrow to Dec. 21

House passes bill to delay government shutdown and border wall fight for two weeks:

It would give lawmakers more time to hash out an agreement on spending and President Donald Trump’s demand for $5 billion to fund his proposed border wall.

Congress has approved spending bills for five government agencies, such as the Departments of Defense and Health and Human Services. It has to fund seven more, including the Department of Homeland Security, which has emerged as the biggest sticking point as Congress tries to avoid letting funding for those agencies lapse.

Read our lips Mr. President: End illegal immigration, end DACA, build The Wall, end the wars, OR NO REELECTION FOR YOU