Amodei wants DACA vote in Congress by the end of the year
Amodei wants DACA vote in Congress by the end of the year
James DeHaven, JDeHaven@rgj.com
Published 5:20 p.m. PT Nov. 30, 2017 | Updated 8:29 p.m. PT Nov. 30, 2017
A broad range of House Republicans said they were ready to work to craft a new legislative fix for young immigrants, known by supporters as Dreamers, before the end of this year. AP
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(Photo: Peggy Santoro/RGJ)
Rep. Mark Amodei, R-Nev., has joined the effort to force a vote on a controversial Obama-era childhood immigration program.
The program, known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, has spared more than 13,000 young Nevadans from deportation since 2012. Congress has another three months to come up with a replacement for the program, which President Donald Trump has pledged to phase out as soon as March.
Amodei — who has supported continued funding for the program, but voted against using additional dollars to expand it — said in a statement that the petition was aimed at bypassing a stalled committee process that had produced “no results in the last 75 months.”
READ MORE: Immigrants who came to the U.S. as children are afraid a temporary protection given to them under Obama may be put to an end by President Trump
“Signing this discharge petition represents the only tool left to me as an individual member of Congress to keep my word by doing everything I can to bring the DACA issue to the House floor for a vote, before the end of this year,” the statement continued. “Once again, this falls into the category of I’d rather be criticized for attempting to move an issue toward a solution, than watching nothing happen on issues for years.
As I have said before, it’s impossible to defend doing nothing in circumstances like this.”
A little under half of all U.S. House members have so far signed the petition. Amodei, Nevada’s lone Republican congressman, is the first member of the state’s congressional delegation to sign the document.
http://www.rgj.com/story/news/politi...ear/911938001/
