By Gary Bauer
After shutting down the government and demanding a fair deal for the so-called "Dreamers," Senate progressives got their chance this week. And they botched it.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell promised an open debate this week, but for days liberals repeatedly objected to holding any votes, even though nearly 100 ideas could have been considered.
In the end, it came down to just four bills on various proposals, but none received the necessary 60 votes needed to pass.
Of course, the left and its media allies are trying to make it sound as if this is the Republicans' fault, and just more evidence that Trump can't get anything done.
But it was progressives who demanded this debate. They insisted that protecting the "Dreamers" was their biggest priority -- so much so that they shut down the government to demonstrate their commitment to illegal immigrants.
Let's be clear about this: President Trump offered a very generous deal -- a path to citizenship for 1.8 million young illegal immigrants (which some Senate conservatives and I opposed), even though only 800,000 were part of Obama's DACA program.
The president also rightly insisted that we address fundamental problems at the same time.
He wanted border security measures to end illegal immigration and these idiotic amnesty debates. He also demanded commonsense reforms to our legal immigration system to address security concerns in an age of global terrorism and rapidly changing economic conditions.
The president's immigration policies have overwhelming public support. A recent Harvard poll found that Americans supported Trump's approach by a margin of 65% to 35%.
But the liberals sided with the 35%. They would rather see the "Dreamers" face deportation than compromise on their radical open borders agenda.
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