Nadeam Elshami: Why the Wall Won't Happen

Put the State of the Union aside, the political theatre out of your mind, and Twitter on hold for a few minutes. 

Now, take a look around and ask: will the Leaders, elected by their peers to make the tough decisions and do what is needed to ensure that Members of Congress and Senators do not have to suffer the political consequences of needless political battles and decisions, deliver on the do no harm pledge?  Yes. That is why the House and Senate negotiators will reach an agreement, without funding for “The Wall” and the government will not shutdown. 

Whether the President issues an emergency declaration to build the wall is certainly a decision the Administration will have to defend in the federal courts and the courts of public opinion. However, the lessons that the White House has learned from this past episode are twofold: the civics lesson is that the Legislative Branch is a co-equal Branch of the government. And the political lesson is that Democrats have control of the House of Representatives. 

Now back to cable news. 

Nadeam Elshami is the former Chief of Staff to Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi and a former fellow at the Georgetown Institute of Politics and Public Service. He currently works as the Policy Director at Brownstein, Hyatt, Farber, Schreck.