On the budget and the border, let's make a deal

Washington is emerging from the holiday season consumed by the ongoing government shutdown. President Trump wants $5 billion for a border wall, Democrats don’t, and neither side appears willing to blink.

The only thing that will save the country from a damaging and prolonged shutdown (although note that there are arguments for letting this happen) is a solution that will allow both sides to save face, a compromise that gives everyone something they want. If both sides are willing, they may be able to move beyond shutdown brinkmanship and give the nation an example of serious leadership that places the common good ahead of political gamesmanship.

So what’s to be compromised? If Trump really wants his money for a border barrier, then an appropriate compromise should involve something Democrats have long demanded. According to Sen. Lindsey Graham, Trump is open-minded about a compromise that creates certainty for hundreds of thousands of law-abiding beneficiaries of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, whose fate currently hangs on a lawsuit in which their cause is likely to lose.

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