On Friday’s broadcast of C-SPAN’s “Ceasefire,” Sen. Peter Welch (D-VT) responded to a question on if there’s a compromise on ICE short of everything Democrats are asking for by saying that “it’s very hard for us to come to some agreement” and stated earlier in the interview that “I can have a different point of view than President Trump on ICE, and that’s a fair and square debate, and voters can decide whose position they prefer. But there’s no impediment to us opening up literally every other element of government that’s affected.”
Host Dasha Burns asked, “Sen. Welch, Democrats have gotten some concessions from this administration, whether you talk about Kristi Noem, whether you’re talking about some of the roving patrols and having Homan going into Minneapolis. Is there a certain point where you do need to compromise, once — you’re seeing these long lines at airports. You’re seeing voters frustrated with the shutdown.”
Welch responded, “No, they’re very frustrated, and I am, too. There [are] two things I think are really important: One is, I want to fund every single thing where we don’t have any disagreement. The only place where we do have a disagreement is ICE, and, of course, that follows what happened in Minneapolis, okay? It was a tragedy. So, I can have a different point of view than President Trump on ICE, and that’s a fair and square debate, and voters can decide whose position they prefer. But there’s no impediment to us opening up literally every other element of government that’s affected.”
Later, Burns asked, “Is there a compromise that Democrats could accept that doesn’t get everything that you all are asking for?”
Welch answered, “In all candor, with what has happened with ICE, I think it’s very hard for us to come to some agreement, okay. But that should not impede us from being able to open up the whole rest of government.”
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