The first episode of Saturday Night Live since the partial government shutdown began started off satirizing the political quagmire in a Deal or No Deal sketch.
The sketch began with Kenan Thompson as Steve Harvey, explaining why Howie Mandel was not hosting. Then, Alec Baldwin stepped in as President Donald Trump.
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Trump’s case had the deal Congress presented him with in December, which could have prevented a shutdown from happening in the first place. But Trump said “No deal!” His counter-offer today was, “I want $5 billion for my border wall and in exchange, I’ll extend DACA and I’ll release the kids from cages so they can be free range kids.”
Trump then chose to pick case No. 3, which was held by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Kate McKinnon). Her briefcase offer was “$1 billion and you say ‘Nancy’s my mama.’” Of course, Trump rejected that offer.
Trump then rejected every other offer. At the end of the sketch, he wanted to open a box from a Clemson student, played by Pete Davidson. The offer: “hamberders,” a reference to a Trump misspelling on Twitter.
The government shutdown began on Dec. 22 and is now the longest in U.S. history. It started after Trump refused to sign a budget without $5.7 billion for a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. The House of Representatives, now run by Democrats, have passed bills to reopen the government, but they have not been taken up by the Senate and have not included the wall funding.
On Saturday, Trump made a “major announcement,” offering up a proposal to Democrats. In exchange for the $5.7 billion for the wall, Trump would extend protections recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which President Barack Obama created to protect some immigrants who came to the U.S. illegally as children from deportation, for the next three years.
Democrats criticized the idea even before it was officially announced, with Pelosi calling it a “non-starter.” Pelosi said the deal falls short of a permanent solution for DACA recipients. Sen. Dick Durbin, the No. 2 Democrat in the Senate, called on Trump to reopen the government before taking on immigration issues.
“Next week, Democrats will pass a package of six bills agreed to by House and Senate negotiators and other legislation to reopen government so that we can fully negotiate on border security proposals,” Pelosi said in a statement. “The President must sign these bills to reopen government immediately and stop holding the American people hostage with this senseless shutdown.”
Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he will bring up Trump’s proposal to a vote as soon as this week.
Since the government shutdown began, about 400,000 federal workers have been furloughed, and 420,000 of them have been called to work without paychecks.
On Wednesday, Trump signed a bill guaranteeing furloughed workers backpay, which they should receive as soon as possible after the shutdown ends.
