The ongoing migrant crisis is getting worse, as the Department of Homeland Security is running out of room to house the increasing number of migrants detained at the border. And when evidence of the conditions dominated the news cycle earlier this month, the outrage prompted lawmakers to get involved. But how that involvement played out became the latest point of contention between factions within the Democratic Party.
The Senate passed a spending bill aimed at alleviating what the Trump administration said was a lack of funding to properly house detained migrants. But the Democratic-controlled House, wary of writing a blank check without strict limits on how that money would be spent, sent a revised bill back to the Senate. But when that bill died with Mitch McConnell, the conservative-leaning “Problem Solvers” caucus of the House Democrats signaled that they were willing to pass the Senate’s no-strings-attached bill, with or without the support of Speaker Pelosi.
When Pelosi ultimately sided with the Problem Solvers, it set off a backlash among the party’s progressive wing, most notably Congresswomen Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ayanna Pressley, Rashida Tlaib, and Ilhan Omar, known collectively as “The Squad.” And the outrage breathed new life into a long-simmering division between The Squad and Party leadership.
This week, Amy examines how deep these divisions go, and whether or not party unity is possible heading into 2020.
Also, Representative Seth Moulton from Massachusetts, who’s running for the Democratic presidential nomination, joins Amy for herCandidate Talkseries.
Guests:
Ryan Grim, the DC bureau chief at The Intercept, and the author ofWe’ve Got People: From Jesse Jackson to AOC, the End of Big Money and the Rise of a Movement
Seth Moulton, Represents Massachusetts’s Sixth District in the House of Representatives, Democratic presidential candidate
Heidi Heitkamp, former Senator from North Dakota
Steve Kornacki, National Political Correspondent for NBC News and MSNBC, author of the bookThe Red and the Blue
Eric Liu, CEO of Citizen University and executive director of the Aspen Institute’s Citizenship and American Identity Program, author ofBecome America: Civic Sermons on Love, Responsibility, and Democracy
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