The government is open for business again. With both sides to blame for the three-day shutdown that ended late Monday, only one group _ Senate Republicans _ can claim victory now that it's over.
Their Democratic counterparts appear to have caved on nearly every major front. Republicans gave them vague promises to keep discussing the plight of 800,000 young undocumented immigrants known as Dreamers, which was a main bone of contention leading to the shutdown.
But GOP leaders made no promises to keep the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program alive and no promise that President Donald Trump would stay out of the immigration negotiations. Some deal.
Democratic leaders knew they were outmaneuvered as soon as Republicans couched the shutdown as a vote to deny paychecks to U.S. troops in favor of protecting illegal immigrants. Even though that's a gross exaggeration of the central arguments, it played well across various voting constituencies. In an election year, that's what matters most.
To their credit, lawmakers agreed not to politicize the Children's Health Insurance Program and to fund it for a full six years, removing an element of uncertainty for the families of 9 million children living on the margins of poverty.
Republicans have little to brag about. Their continuing resolution funds the government only through Feb. 8. The lack of a permanent spending plan poses particular problems for the Pentagon, especially for long-term maintenance of combat aircraft and supply lines for overseas forces. For all their pro-military jingoism, the GOP's failure to come up with a long-term spending plan puts the nation's security at risk.
In a few days, the threat of a shutdown will return unless GOP leaders start negotiating in earnest. Republicans were technically correct that there was no urgency to a vote on extending DACA protections. The program, begun under President Barack Obama and canceled by Trump, does not expire until March. But for immigrant youths, the threat of deportation is real and imminent. Majorities in both parties favor extending DACA protections.
Trump initially pledged to support whatever DACA bill congressional negotiators came up with. Then he reneged, insisting that the spending bill include funding for a border wall that even his own chief of staff, John Kelly, acknowledges is unrealistic. Gone is Trump's promise that Mexico would pay for the wall. U.S. taxpayers will get stuck with the bill for a wall that neither party's leadership believes is necessary or feasible.
Another victory Republican leaders can celebrate is that, for three days, they managed to keep Trump from tweeting or making provocative statements that risked inflaming Democrats and killing the deal.
In the end, the agreement won't even keep the government running for three weeks. For all the back-slapping and high-fiving at the White House on Monday, this was hardly a victory worth celebrating.
