A Senate “bipartisan deal” is no deal if the hostage taking returns. Chuck Schumer is being accommodating, but this is only a negotiating round that needs the House to tell Trump to stick such a cease-fire if the government only gets shut again on February 8th. Considering the damage already caused, a two-week lull will not fix everything and a new February 8th shutdown would wreak even more damage and give Trump and the GOP even more leverage.
The plan, a compromise between Senator Mitch McConnell, the majority leader, and Senator Chuck Schumer, the Democratic leader, offers the first hint of a path out of the partial shutdown, which is now in its fifth week and has left 800,000 federal workers without pay. The two announced it Tuesday afternoon on the Senate floor.
“People are saying isn’t there a way out of this mess, isn’t there a way to relieve the burden on the 800,000 federal workers not getting paid, isn’t there a way to get government services open first and debate what we should do for border security later?” Mr. Schumer said. “Well, now there’s a way.”