WASHINGTON (Senate TV/House TV/CNN) – The government is four days away from a spending deadline and facing the increased possibility of a shutdown.
Republicans cannot fund the government on their own and one of the long talked-about solutions to getting Democrats on board had been to come up with a plan to protect the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, the program that protects those who entered the U.S. as undocumented minors.
It's a compromise affecting the futures of nearly 700,000 Dreamers, as they're known.
It's a compromise that has fallen through.
“This has turned into an s-show,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina. “Somebody on his staff gave him really bad advice.”
Friday is the deadline to get a spending deal across the finish line, one that's slowly expiring.
Last week, a federal court decision temporarily blocked President Donald Trump's decision to end DACA and said the government must resume the program's renewal application.
Department of Justice announced Tuesday that it will appeal that decision and is also now asking the Supreme Court to take up the case.
“Hopefully Democrats will stop playing politics and start governing and getting their job done,” said White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders.
Some Democrats said they won't vote on a spending bill unless some sort of resolution for the program is reached.
Democrats arguing that, with an actual deal finished, Republicans should at the very least put it up for a vote to avoid a shutdown. Otherwise, it'll come down to Democrats uniting and withholding all their votes, or just enough coming along to keep the government open, with a solution for DACA or not.
Trump took to Twitter Tuesday, writing, "The Democrats want to shut down the government over amnesty for all and border security."
But Trump rejected a bipartisan bill last Thursday, one that senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Graham helped craft.
“We've been working at this for four months, seriously working at it,” Durbin said. “Give and take, there are parts of it that I hate but that's the nature of a compromise.”
Lindsey made a promise to Dreamers.
"We're not gonna leave you behind,” Lindsey said. “I don't know how this movie ends but you're gonna be taken care of.
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