Sonoma County Congressmen Thompson, Huffman ready for House challenge to Trump

With the political tables turned in their favor, Democratic Congressmen Mike Thompson and Jared Huffman are enthused about going back to work Thursday as part of the new majority in the House of Representatives, which is scheduled to immediately challenge President Donald Trump over the government shutdown.

Hours after San Francisco’s Nancy Pelosi regains the speaker’s gavel, the Democrats - in control for the first time since 2011 - are expected pass measures that would end the 12-day-old shutdown without giving Trump any more money for a border wall.

The move is calculated to force the president and Senate Republicans to choose between the wall, Trump’s signature campaign promise, and putting about 800,000 federal employees back to work with pay.

Thompson, a 20-year House veteran from St. Helena, said he expects a unanimous vote by House Democrats. Huffman of San Rafael, going into his fourth term, said he would be “shocked if we put any more money on the table for the border wall.”

“I think there would be an insurrection if that were to happen,” he said.

Critics might dismiss the Democratic move as political theater, with Trump so far holding fast to his demand for $5 billion for the wall, the House Democrats stuck at $1.3 billion and Senate Republicans, who lack the necessary supermajority of 60 votes to pass a measure, saying they won’t act at all without a firm commitment by the president.

Thompson said he considers it a “good-faith effort to open negotiations ... to get this guy to open up the government.”

Trump initially said he would take responsibility for the shutdown, which started Dec. 22, but has since sought to shift the blame onto Democrats.

On Tuesday, Trump teasingly tweeted Pelosi - “let’s make a deal,” he wrote - and top House and Senate leaders have been invited to a White House briefing on Wednesday.

David McCuan, a Sonoma State University political scientist, said he thinks Trump and the Democrats could agree to a “grand bargain” giving Trump more border security money in exchange for a deal on immigrant safeguards, an idea floated by Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina.

Huffman thinks the president has “boxed himself into a corner” and may escape by accepting less money for border security and “redefining victory.”

“He’ll claim he got what he wanted,” Huffman said.

Thompson noted wryly that “the guy who wrote ‘The Art of the Deal’ doesn’t seem willing to negotiate.”

McCuan said Democrats think the pressure is on Trump and the Republicans to end the shutdown and don’t see a need to make concessions.

“They have time on their side,” he said, noting that the president’s State of the Union address is expected on Jan. 29, although it hasn’t been formally scheduled.

“Imagine a State of the Union with the government closed,” McCuan said.

Other big House news on Thursday will be the introduction of HR 1, a Pelosi-backed government reform package that addresses voting rights, gerrymandering, campaign finance and ethics, Huffman said.

“It’s all about restoring confidence and transparency in government,” he said, and the designation as HR 1 signifies it as a top Democratic priority.

With all the new, young members of the House, Huffman said Thursday’s swearing in might see a repeat of the scene in 2007 when Pelosi, surrounded by members’ children on and in front of the speaker’s dais, opened the proceedings.

“For these children, our children and for all of America’s children, the House will come to order,” she said, rapping the gavel three times.

You can reach Staff Writer Guy Kovner at guy.kovner@pressdemocrat.com.