End the Shutdown & Fix the Problem(s)

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Time to stop the political games and pissing contest between the President and Congress.

Step 1: Pass clean funding for those agencies which have no relation to border security and stop ■■■■■■■ around with peoples lives.

Step 2A: Fund DHS for six months, including 2 Billion for improved border security including repair/upgrade of existing walls, improved staffing for CBP and ICE, improved surveillance along for improved response times where needed, and improved technology at ports of entry to interdict the main source of drugs and human trafficking entering the country.

Step 2B: As part of the DHS funding bill, establish a bipartisan commission to examine border security and illegal aliens entering the country. The bipartisan commission would have executive members from the political realm, CBP/ICE, Technology & Security private entities (i.e. non-government entities), economists, and immigration law experts. The commission would have work-groups on specific topics. The work groups would report out findings in 120 days. The executive commission would report out in 150 days. Work groups would break out and concentrate on the following areas:

    1. Border Security at ports of entry to improve legal entry into the country and more effectively identify and interdict drugs entering the country through ports of entry (ports on entry is not limited to the southern border, this will examine technology, procedures, and process at commercial ports as well).
    1. Border Security in low population areas. The needs of low population areas being much different than those in high population areas. The needs of the border around San Diego are different then the middle of the desert.
    1. Tracking, locating, apprehending visa overstays.
    1. The Technology work group would examine E-verify system to include improvements such as technology integration with the IRS, Social Security Administration, and State Departments of Vital Records (births, deaths, etc). Making the use of E-verify a tool available to employers and then requiring its use. A negative response from E-verify will become justification for not hiring an individual, which is not currently the case. Employers will then be held responsible for using E-verify.
    1. The economic work-group would look at the establishment of a workable “guest worker” program so that low skill workers (mainly agricultural) can be brought into the country to work, but employers are held responsible and submit a bond to ensure workers return at the end of the specified period. (I can see a new business opportunity for companies to become Temp agencies for such business needs.).

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The intent isn’t to answer the political question of building a wall (or not) across the southern border. The bipartisan, expert commission’s mission will be to come up with realistic and effective changes to the current situation on the physical security (illegal aliens, human trafficking, drug smuggling) and economic driving factors.
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The problem is if WorldWatcher was in front of president trump and suggested that, president trump would storm out of the meeting and then tweet that WorldWatcher was a loser, wasted money while in the Navy and probably cheated on his wife.

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Pretending that is the concern is part of the problem.

I really love the OP’s suggestions of opening the government. Common sense, bipartisan, and a working solution.

Because of these reasons, it will never happen. The dysfunction of the GOP, and especially with Trump as the leader of the party, have shown themselves to be abject failures at governing.

It’s why they are pushing so hard for this random amount of money for a stupid idea that will literally do nothing, NOTHING, to address the issue.

And this is not to say the Democrats are paragons of governance. But they are a damn sight better than the Republicans. Complete and total failures at this point.

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This is an excellent start. I would add one more item as an offer the Donald Trump. We need to have a serious study of the feasibility and cost of building a wall. There is a great deal that does not seem to have been considered: issue with eminent domain; drainage in many areas of the wall; impact on cattle ranching, even such matters as where exactly the wall will be built. To this point, all estimates of cost and maintenance are fantasy in the absence of a detailed design. And with Trump changing his mind daily: wall/barrier, concrete/steel and so on there is no way to develop a statement of the true cost that the American people are being asked to bear.

Right now, whether it’s $5B, $5.6B or $50B, the American people are being asked to right a blank check. Hey all you fiscal conservatives who think the wall is a good idea, do you really believe in writing blank checks to the government?

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Here here to your recommendations! :beers:

At this point in history, the US Government is acting like a bunch of babies. The livlihood of thousands of people are at stake here. People will be unable to pay mortgages, groceries, car payments, etc. But, but, the greedy babies in Congress and in the White House will still receive their paychecks.

Congress and the President should be locked in a room with nothing but water, forced to listen to “Its a Small World” on repeat until they resolve this.

Somehow I doubt that those who are fine with kiddy camps are going to feel guilt abusing immigrants.

Democrats could solve the Shutdown in 15 minutes! There is a horrible humanitarian crisis at our Southern Border. Donald Trump is in the White House waiting on the Democrats to come back to Washington and work to end this Shutdown. All the drugs and weapons and sexual predators coming through our ports of entry need to be stopped, that’s why we need a giant wall. Call your Dem Senator or Congresswoman/man. Tell them to get it done! Humanitarian Crisis.

The post you replied to didn’t mention mistreatment of immigrants? I’m not following.

DEM’s (I can’t believe I’m defending DEMs) already did their part, they passed funding bills that the GOP controlled Senate HAD ALREADY PASSED in December.

Posts of entry ALREADY have walls and that were most of the drugs/trafficking come through.

Finally, do you know the current location of McConnell and GOP Senators? Hint - they ain’t in Washington, so why only call DEM senators back?

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I was not talking about abusing immigrants. I was talking about abusing American taxpayers who will be stuck with an undefined bill in perpetuity and abusing American landholders whose lands will be seized by eminent domain. Traditionally government spending and eminent domain have been things that conservatives opposed. It is disturbing that with their man in the White House, conservatives have compromised on so many of their bedrock principles. I am just calling them back to their roots; and if they are true conservatives they will grapple with the contradiction.

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The funding bill was only passed in December in the Senate because the deal was acceptable to Donald Trump. Democrats no longer have the opportunity to reach that reasonable agreement. Their actions were not fast enough and now they need to be more compromise more to reach an agreement. Democrats know that the House bill will not pass the Senate because of McConnell, so they need to fund the wall. This is the only viable method. At some point, the Democrats will have to ask themselves how much they want to hurt the American people because they will not say yes to Donald Trump’s request.

You are right that if the Democrats do everything that Donald Trump wants, the shutdown will end. Of course it is equally true that if Donald Trump did everything the Democrats want shutdown would end.

However, both parties are responsible to the people who elected them. The Democrats just won a massive victory in November where the #1 issue the Republicans ran on was hostility towards immigrants. Telling people to do things that make no sense to the people you are commanding and run counter to their beliefs… what’s the point?

That sounds like the way Donald Trump negotiates…agree to a deal only to back out at the last minute and ask for more.

Nah, at this point let’s just break him.

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This whole crisis is manufactured because of what we now know the FBI was investigating - that Donald is a Russian asset working on behalf Russia against the United States.

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It’s time that congress gets together and gets stuff done despite the president. Not because of or in favor of. Do what’s right and when he vetos it. Over ride the veto.

This story is boring.

It’s not as exciting as the story that goes “Non-Americans south of the border are doing bad things to Americans. Build the wall now!”

[quote="CassandraJoe]

Step 2B. - My sense is…“been there, done that”. That’s kind of what the higher levels of DHS do. They study alternatives and try to come up with a reasoned solution.

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Which is why they are part of the suggestion for both the Executive Committee and work-groups.

But to think that input of President “Build the Wall and Mexico will pay for it” Trumps political appointees are going to be the end all is a mistake and changes it from an attempt to find and implement meaningful solutions to a political tool.

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This is my problem with this entire shutdown. Before anyone stops being paid, Congress needs their pay halted with no chance of retro pay. This would accelerate the pissing match to its inevitable conclusion.