The first full week of the lame duck session just ended, and you will not be at all surprised that Congress and the unindicted co-conspirator in the White House are no closer to having an agreement to avert partial government shutdown a week from today. That's all thanks to Trump and his on again-off again insistence on $5 billion for his border wall.
“Seven bipartisan appropriations bills are hanging in the balance for one reason and one reason only," Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said on the floor Thursday: "President Trump." Schumer says not one penny more than the $1.6 billion agreed to earlier this year for border security, not the wall. He says the administration already has $1.3 billion allocated for border security that hasn't been spent yet. He says Trump is "trying to manufacture a shutdown to fire up his own base."
Which is probably true. Schumer's position is that they go with the already negotiated $1.6 in the Senate bipartisan Homeland Security spending bill, or pass another year-long continuing resolution that freezes the department's budget. "This bipartisan negotiated deal remains on the table and would certainly receive more than 60 votes in the Senate," he said.
Since McConnell doesn't seem to be recognizing that agreement and is meeting with Trump to figure out how to goose the amount, there's no need for Schumer to stick to it. His new starting point should be $0. As he himself says, there's $1.3 billion in unused funds already there for DHS to use. Let them use that up and then come back for more.
And for good measure, throw in a vote on the legislation to protect the special counsel's Russia investigation. Schumer and the Senate Democrats need to step up into a much more adversarial position against McConnell, particularly while his vote margin is narrow in the lame duck.