Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) formally offered the 628-page Senate bill on Thursday after an initial vote to take up House-passed legislation, which is being used as a vehicle for the chamber’s debate.

Typically, the Senate waives the full reading of bills or amendments. But Johnson had vowed to force Senate floor staff to read the bill, arguing it would give senators time to craft amendments and for Americans to learn the details of the legislation.

“By the way, I feel bad for the clerks. … So, so often we rush these massive bills that are hundreds, if not thousands, of pages long. You don’t have time. Nobody has time to read them,” Johnson said on Thursday.

Senators estimate it will take anywhere between five and 10 hours for the Senate floor staff to read through the legislation. Johnson was sitting on the floor as the Senate staff started their reading on Thursday afternoon and a GOP senator will need to remain on the floor throughout the reading.

After Johnson objected, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), the chairman of the Budget Committee, was overheard joking “I want to stay to hear the reading. I may have missed something.”

Sanders, who subsequently left the chamber, added, “Good thing we have time during a national emergency to do this.”

Democrats are vowing that they will pass the coronavirus bill this week, which still needs to bounce back to the House for a second vote. Even after the Senate staff wraps up reading the bill, the chamber has to go through up to an additional 20 hours of debate and a freewheeling vote-a-rama before senators can take a final vote.

Schumer trolled Johnson’s efforts on the floor on Thursday.

“A few of my Republican colleagues are going to some pretty ridiculous lengths to showcase their opposition,” Schumer said.

“Still, we are delighted that the Senator from Wisconsin wants to give the American people another opportunity to hear what’s in the American Rescue Plan. We Democrats want America to hear what’s in the plan. And if the senator from Wisconsin wants to read it, let everybody listen because it has overwhelming support,” he added.

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The Senate Democratic leader, who has little good to say about Trump most days, tweeted, “Hang tough on China, @realDonaldTrump. Don’t back down. Strength is the only way to win with China.”

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“How do you impeach a Republican President for a crime that was committed by the Democrats? MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!” Trump tweeted shortly after arriving in Washington following an Easter Sunday spent at Mar-a-Lago in Florida.

Trump’s tweet came after several Democratic leaders in Congress made clear on Sunday that the possibility of impeachment was still on the table, despite opposition from Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and others.

“Impeachment is likely to be unsuccessful,” Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, told ABC’s “This Week,” before adding, “It may be that we undertake an impeachment nonetheless.”

Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), chairman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, and Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, expressed similar views on the Sunday show circuit, insisting Democrats would continue to look into the issue.

The possibility of impeachment gained new urgency after the release of Mueller’s redacted report on Thursday. Though the special counsel’s team concluded there was no conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russia, it also outlined in vivid detail ways in which Trump had possibly sought to interfere with the investigation, raising questions over whether he obstructed justice.

Mueller himself declined to draw a conclusion one way or the other on that matter. But the open-ended nature of that section of the report has led to renewed calls by congressional Democrats to look into whether Trump should be impeached.

Shortly after the report’s release, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), arguably the most influential of the current crop of progressive lawmakers on Capitol Hill, said she would sign on to a resolution from Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) that would examine the issue of impeachment.

Then, on Saturday, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) became the first 2020 presidential hopeful to explicitly call for the House to begin impeachment proceedings.

Those new calls are likely to cause friction with Democratic leaders such as Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), who have sought to quell talk of impeachment, arguing it would be too divisive going into a heated presidential election.

Pelosi has repeatedly said pursuing impeachment against Trump “is not worth it,” echoing the argument made by figures who have said the best way to defeat Trump is to vote him out of office, including former FBI Director James Comey, who played a key role in Mueller’s investigation.

That view was also endorsed by a more moderate 2020 hopeful, Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio), who on Sunday argued Congress should not pursue impeachment just yet.

“Let the process play itself out,” Ryan said on CNN. “And let’s educate the American people too. This is a very nuanced document. Let the American people really see what’s going on here.”

Source: https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/439937-trump-takes-aim-at-dem-talk-of-impeachment

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Hundreds of Honduran migrants began their journey in hopes of seeking asylum at our southern border, a goal that proved elusive to the previous caravan. Instead of dismissing the new caravan as a “manufactured crisis” as the Democrats did after President Trump made his appeal for border security from the Oval Office, Mexican authorities sprang into action, announcing a list of strengthened requirements to address the problem.

According to the latest reports, the Mexican government is reinforcing all the entry points along its own southern border with additional immigration enforcement agents, and is stepping up surveillance of known illegal crossing points. It also plans to enforce strict immigration protocols, such as requiring the migrants to undergo biometric scans and acquire immigration documents before they can enter the country.

Significantly, migrants who plan to traverse Mexico on their way to the United States will be required to provide an American visa, which will assist federal authorities. Most importantly, the Mexican government will deny passage and deport anyone who fails to comply with these strict conditions. While the decision to reinforce its own border clearly involves internal security concerns, Mexico has also been conscious of how its own policies impact the illegal immigration crisis in the United States.

In an effort to support our American enforcement efforts, the Mexican government took pivotal steps to stop the previous caravan, offering migrants access to various social programs and benefits if they chose to live and work in Mexico rather than continue on to the United States. Mexico even gave migrants an opportunity to apply for temporary work permits and obtain health benefits if they remained in its southern states.

“This plan is only for those who comply with Mexican laws, and it is a first step towards a permanent solution for those who are granted refugee status in Mexico,” former President Peña Nieto warned at the time. By discouraging the caravan from traveling to the United States, Mexico demonstrated its willingness to assist federal authorities and establish a working partnership with President Trump despite past disagreements.

Sadly, the same cannot be said about the Democrats, who continue to do everything in their power to obstruct the White House agenda and still refuse to allocate adequate funds for a border wall to help end our illegal immigration crisis. As a consequence of this diehard partisanship, we just experienced the longest government shutdown in our history, during which many Democrats refused to even meet with President Trump.

Despite the efforts President Trump has made to compromise with the Democrats, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer refuse to hold productive negotiations, arguing instead that there is no illegal immigration crisis to begin with. But to their dismay, Democrats are breaking ranks to come to the table on border security. Will enough lawmakers compromise to solve this issue and get the job done?

When it comes to border security, Mexico is putting the Democrats to shame with tough immigration policies that will do more to protect our southern border than anything the Democrats have ever been willing to support since President Trump was elected. If the Democrats took our security as seriously as Mexico has, there would be no such crisis at all.

Madison Gesiotto is an attorney and commentator who serves with the advisory board of the Donald Trump campaign. She was an inauguration spokesperson and former Miss Ohio. She is on Twitter @MadisonGesiotto.

Source: https://thehill.com/opinion/immigration/427331-when-it-comes-to-border-security-democrats-can-learn-from-mexico

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