While I am opposed to “negotiating with blackmailers (the President and Senator McConnell), there is a greater problem here to be addressed. The “shutdown” is most immediately affecting 800,000 federal employees, almost half of which are being “forced” to work without being paid. To my mind, that is illegal and should be the subject of many lawsuits by those workers in question. That being said, there is a solution which should be offered by the House Democrats in exchange for the President to sign a funding bill to reopen those parts of the government which are currently closed.
Aside from the standard portions of the funding bill, the House should offer:
1. One billion dollars for additional border security funding to cover added expenses for those in custody.
2. Two billion dollars for additional agents to cover port of entry inspections, added electronic security for the border itself and to search for tunnels, etc. to help reduce the flow of contraband into the United States.
3. One billion dollars for repair and replacement where deemed necessary of the current security fence along the border.
4. Five million dollars for an accelerated independent study on the feasance of buildng any additional wall sections, what it would cost, and how cost-effective it would be as opposed to adding additional border agents, etc.
This is a reasonable compromise. I hope that someone who read this will forward it to the parties involved. I have been unable to reach anyone since communications are also shut down to the average American.
Robert Butler
P.O. Box 193
Marmaduke, AR 72443
501-827-3792
"...Therefore, never send to know for whom the bells tolls; it tolls for thee...: Meditation 17 by John Donne 1624
