Thread: Democrats seek to avoid DACA's isolation in budget negotiations

Democrats seek to avoid DACA's isolation in budget negotiationsy Tal Kopan, CNN

Updated 10:29 PM ET, Tue January 9, 2018

Washington (CNN)Democrats are facing a tightrope challenge to achieve their goal of protecting young undocumented immigrants this month: Keep attention on the issue, but don't let it get singled out.

Already, both sides have begun messaging on the topic, with Republicans accusing Democrats of wanting to shut down the government over immigration and of being unreasonable, and Democrats maintaining they're fighting for a host of programs beneficial to Americans.


What is DACA and why is it ending?


Lawmakers are racing toward a January 19 deadline for government funding with no plan for a long-term budget and a host of issues tied to the negotiations, including the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which protected young undocumented immigrants who came to the US as children from deportation and which President Donald Trump has decided to end.

The logic is that any long-term funding deal — which Republicans urgently want to fund the military and avoid mandatory sequestration budget cuts — will require Democrats, both in the Senate, where 60 votes are needed to advance legislation, and in the House, where fiscal hawks generally reject overall budget numbers on principle. That gives Democrats virtually their only leverage all year in a Washington where Republicans control the House, the Senate and the White House. But while Democrats feel confident demanding that a suite of priorities be included in any budget deal and rejecting ones that fall short, the perception that a spending deal falls through — and thus the government shuts down — solely because of DACA could be too difficult for vulnerable red-state Democrats to swallow.


That was the case in December, advocates say, when Democrats helped Republicans pass a short-term extension of government funding despite repeated promises to not go home for the holidays without a DACA deal. Advocates warn that if Democrats are going to be successful in getting a compromise on DACA this time around, that can't happen again.
"If Democrats stay united on all issues, and (DACA) doesn't get isolated the way it was in December, then there's a better chance that Democrats have leverage to compel the kind of negotiations that might produce a deal in time," Frank Sharry, executive director of America's Voice Education Fund, a pro-immigration reform group, told reporters.
Democratic lawmakers who have long pushed for immigration reform have been concerned for months that leadership could abandon their issue at the last minute.
But thus far, they remain confident in their negotiating position and their negotiators.


"No, I think we have two stalwarts in Dick Durbin and Steny Hoyer and I'm very, very happy they're there," said Illinois Democratic Rep. Luis Gutierrez on Tuesday. Rep. Hoyer, of Maryland, and Sen. Durbin, of Illinois, are the Democratic whips of their respective chambers.
Democrats have been careful in their messaging, as have Republicans, as the deadline nears.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, has been disciplined in including DACA when talking about a laundry list of essential items, as he did on the Senate floor on Tuesday. Likewise, Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn, a Texas Republican, has responded to questions about DACA timing with questions about whether Democrats would shut down the government over that issue specifically, saying Monday that "Democrats are holding (a budget) deal hostage for a DACA negotiation."
"When you hear Schumer saying 'no piecemeal' and 'global deal,' that's to maximize the unity in his caucus and to maximize their leverage," Sharry said. "I think it's quite an intelligent strategy. ... As long as Democrats have a united front with a number of issues that they're holding together, we think that puts us in the best chance to get to the serious negotiations."




Democratic Rep. Gerry Connolly of Virginia said he would "reject" any characterization of Democrats shutting down the government over DACA or anything else, saying it was essential for Democrats to stay united and keep all their issues together.
"Right now, there's a lot of linkage with a lot of issues, and Deocrats are doing, I think, the right thing in highlighting the unfinished business and the linkages, right?" Connolly said, citing children's health insurance, veterans' benefits, surveillance reform and DACA. "And you've got to use all the leverage you've got while you've got it."

CNN's Ted Barrett contributed to this report.

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Yeah, Democrats are in a box alright. Now add the court ruling today that puts out their flame of "urgency" and I'd say we'll have a clean budget bill with no DACA garbage attached and move on with a functioning representative government that isn't held hostage by foreign nationals in our country in violation of US immigration law. Too much to hope for? We'll see.

Maybe a permanent DACA program will fizzle. With this ruling waffling conservative Democrats can find a way out. Now, as long as Trump doesn't put his foot in his mouth further. Reading the fine print:

U.S. District Judge William Alsup ruled in San Francisco on Tuesday the program must remain in place while the litigation is resolved. The ruling could complicate negotiations between Trump and congressional leaders over immigration reform.
“Today’s order doesn’t change the Department of Justice’s position on the facts,” said the department’s spokesman Devin M. O’Malley. The department “will continue to vigorously defend this position,” he said.
Alsup’s decision follows a number of rulings by other U.S. judges seeking to rein in Trump’s immigration policies, including decisions that limited administration moves against sanctuary cities and narrowed the scope of a ban against travel from some Muslim-majority counties.
Nearly 700,000 young people, known as Dreamers, were protected from deportation and allowed to work legally under the DACA program as of September 2017, Alsup’s ruling said.
Alsup ruled that the federal government did not have to process new applications from people who had never before received protection under the program. However, he ordered the government to continue processing renewal applications from people who had previously been covered.

I sure hope so, Captainron!

DemoRats only concern is DACA.

If they think they are fooling anyone, then, they are the ones who are stupid.

If JFK rose from the dead, he would not recognize the Democrat party and what then turned into.

Shameful!