Kirstjen Michele Nielsen, an American attorney and national security expert, abruptly resigned on 7 April as the U.S. Homeland Security secretary. According to Cornell Clayton, a professor at the Washington State University, “this is further evidence of the disarray within the administration over the border crisis and Trump’s frustration with what he saw as her inability to clamp down on illegal crossings at the U.S.-Mexico border.”

According to the academic, the southern border controversy continues to escalate within the Trump administration. While “hard-liners,” like Stephen Miller, want to double down on tough rhetoric and “tough policies,” there are those who “want to find some bipartisan solution to the border crisis and to immigration policies more generally,” Clayton said. He added that Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, was “trying to negotiate a broader immigration deal with Democrats behind the scenes”

“The confusion became crystal clear this week,” the professor opined. “Trump threatened to close the border with Mexico but was then forced to back away from that position just six days later by Congressional Republicans and others in the administration who know it would be economically disastrous.”

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Sputnik News

By Cornell W. Clayton, professor of political science and director of the Thomas S. Foley Institute for Public Policy and Public Service at Washington State University

Tom Foley would have turned 90 today. What he would have thought about last week’s hearings in the House Oversight Committee? Donald Trump’s former lawyer, Michael Cohen, called the president a racist, a con man and a cheat, and acknowledged he had been directed to pay off a porn star during the 2016 election.

No one seemed fazed. No one said “Have you no decency?” Not to Cohen, the president, or misbehaving members of Congress. Foley, who cherished Congress, surely would have agreed with committee Chairman Elijah Cummings, who gaveled the meeting closed saying “we are better than this. We really are. As a country, we are so much better than this.”

Tom Foley devoted his life to public service, starting in the state attorney general’s office, as a staffer to Sen. Henry “Scoop” Jackson, and then for 30 years representing Washington’s 5th Congressional District in the House, followed by service as ambassador to Japan and chair of the Trilateral Commission.

It’s impossible to list all that Foley accomplished while serving the people of Eastern Washington. A master at bipartisan cooperation, he passed legislation for family medical leave, AmeriCorps and food stamp programs, as well as other programs reducing hunger and protecting the elderly. He brought millions of research dollars to the region’s universities, leading to the development of new crops, healthier farming techniques and a burgeoning wine industry in our state. Foley obtained funding to build crucial highways and infrastructure across Eastern Washington, and was a driving force behind many Spokane landmarks such as Riverfront Park and the University District.

Foley was a warm, affable man. But the dignity with which he treated his office was no accident of temperament. It grew from his belief in the nobility of government service itself. He believed Congress could do good, that public service was a privilege, and honoring your office required respecting others, including those with whom you disagreed.

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The Spokesman Review

When Majority Leader Mitch McConnell made a twofold announcement Thursday that President Donald Trump would approve the budget proposal and declare a national emergency at the southern border, Washington legislators Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers and Sen. Patty Murray issued statements that this could establish a troubling precedent.

Cornell Clayton, director of Washington State University’s Thomas S. Foley Institute for Public Policy and Public Service, was not surprised by McMorris Rodgers’ position.

“It’s a consistent position that most conservatives have taken,” Clayton said. “They’ve been very squeamish — in the eight years of the Obama administration, in particular — about the expansive use of executive branch power.”

“I think it’s going to be a very interesting proposition, and there’s a number of conservative senators who are on record as saying they would be opposed to using emergency powers to do this,” Clayton said. “… I think it’s not a done deal in the Senate, and I think it will be a close vote.”

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HaroldNet