Thread: GOP open to 3-year DACA fix in spending bill

BY NIV ELIS AND MIKE LILLIS - 03/15/18 12:18 PM EDT


© Greg Nash

Congressional Republicans are open to including a three-year immigration fix in the upcoming omnibus spending package but are awaiting clear direction from the White House.

On Wednesday, the White House floated a “three-for-three” approach to Congress, which would extend Deferred Action on Childhood Arrival (DACA) protections for three years in exchange for three years of border wall funding.

The White House later ruled out that specific approach, but left the door open to some compromise on border wall funding and DACA, which shields immigrants who were brought to the country illegally as minors.

“If there were a deal cut and that could be added to the omnibus, we would welcome that. But right now, what was reported as a three-for-three deal is not something the White House would support,” deputy press secretary Raj Shah told reporters.

Among congressional Republicans, the idea of a three-year DACA fix in exchange for wall funding was amenable.

“I don’t have a problem with it, as long as it’s something the president wants, as opposed to us trying to force him into doing something,” said Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.), a House Appropriations subcommittee chairman.

Rep. Charlie Dent (R-Pa.), a moderate who is retiring after this term, said that he would support a three-year fix, though it was not his preference.

“I’d rather do something else on DACA, I’d rather get a real bill,” he said.

Republicans also expressed frustration with the lack of a clear message from the White House.

“We were watching to see where that would go. There were members here that would be open to that as well, but they’ve already pulled it down,” said a senior Republican source of the White House trial balloon.

Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-Fla.) said that without a hard deadline, a long-term solution was unlikely. A February Supreme Court ruling effectively eliminated the March 5 deadline that President Trump set when he announced he would scrap the program in September. Further court action could allow the program to lapse.

“That pressure is gone, and this process works on pressure and deadlines,” Diaz-Balart said. “I’m relieved for the [DACA] folks, but we need to find a long-term solution and right now I would tell you that momentum is kind of gone,” he added.

Some Republicans, such as Rep. David Schweikert (Az.), are still taking a harder line on the issue.

“Once again we’re back on that treadmill of avoiding doing those things to fix the solution permanently,” he said. “I want a sort of holistic solution on immigration policy that both fixates on economic growth but also makes it so we never have this situation in the future.”

Schweikert, a fiscal hawk, is unlikely to vote for the omnibus anyway in objection to increased spending levels. Republicans will need Democratic support to pass the spending bill.

On Thursday, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) rejected the idea that Democrats would accept new border wall funding as part of the omnibus without major concessions from the Republicans providing benefits to those living in the country illegally.

“Should we give a border wall for nothing? No, I don’t think so,” Pelosi said during a press briefing in the Capitol.

Pelosi noted that Senate Democrats, in 2013, had supported new wall funding, but only as a part of a sweeping immigration reform package that blocked the deportation of most of the nation’s roughly 11 million undocumented immigrants. Quite aside from her objection to an “obnoxious” wall bisecting border communities — “In a civilized society we’d do something like that,” Pelosi said — the liberal leader said there’s simply no incentive for the Democrats to support new wall funding without a similar deal this year.

“When there was comprehensive immigration reform, which was bipartisan in the Senate and protected 11 million people, there were serious concessions made in the balance,” she said. “For nothing would we give the wall? No. What would be our motivation?”

Trump had requested $1.6 billion in wall funding for 2018 and has sought a $25 billion payment into a trust in 2019 to fund it into the future.

http://thehill.com/homenews/house/37...-spending-bill

NO DEAL

DACA EXPIRED ON MARCH 5, 2018..."DEFERRED DEPORTATION IS OVER"!

LET WORK PERMITS EXPIRE AND OUT THEY GO

GET IN LINE LIKE THE TWO BILLION PEOPLE ON THE PLANET THAT WANT TO COME HERE!

DO NOT REWARD THESE ILLEGAL ALIEN CRIMINAL TRESPASSERS NO MATTER IF THEY CAME HERE 30 YEARS AGO OR 3 SECONDS AGO!

NO PATH TO STAY!

STOP KICKING THIS CAN DOWN THE ROAD AND END IT NOW!

NO TO AMNESTY #8

Some Republicans, such as Rep. David Schweikert (Az.), are still taking a harder line on the issue.

“Once again we’re back on that treadmill of avoiding doing those things to fix the solution permanently,” he said. “I want a sort of holistic solution on immigration policy that both fixates on economic growth but also makes it so we never have this situation in the future.”

Illegal aliens do not contribute to "economic growth" ... what is wrong with you??!! They contribute to overpopulation, increased poverty, deflated wages, and national debt. They burden our schools, hospitals, roads, housing, and welfare programs with no upside at all. ZERO UPSIDE. Get them all out of here. ALL of them. All 3 generations. OUT! OUT! OUT!

Trump: Let’s Do A Short-Term DACA Deal

ED MORRISSEYPosted at 2:01 pm on March 14, 2018



It’s getting to be crunch time on Capitol Hill for budgeteers, with the continuing resolution from last month’s 18-month spending agreement set to run out in nine days. The agreement should prevent a shutdown by gaining support for an omnibus bill to complete the FY2018 budget once and for all, but the fight over DACA and the border wall still has appropriators at odds. Donald Trump had insisted on a deal with his “four pillars,” but today the White House says he’ll take a short-term deal in the meantime to get the budget completed:

White House officials have told key Republican leaders on Capitol Hill that President Trump is open to cutting a deal in an upcoming spending bill to protect young immigrants from deportation in exchange for border wall funding, according to four GOP officials briefed on the talks. …

One idea under consideration is a three-year extension of the DACA program in exchange for three years of wall funding, according to a GOP official. This official said talks were fluid.

This sounds much like the compromise floated by Jeff Flake two weeks ago. Flake said he had bipartisan support for a deal that would extend DACA in place in exchange for three years of border-wall funding, roughly $7 billion, but that Trump had to drop his insistence on changes to “chain migration” policies and the elimination of the visa lottery system. The White House said at that time that Trump considered his four-pillars proposal to already be a significant compromise and he wanted the whole $25 billion for the wall up front.

The Washington Post points out that this deal could boot immigration reform to well past the next presidential election:

The outlines of the deal Trump is now willing to explore are much narrower, said the officials familiar with the offer: a two- or three-year extension of the DACA program, which now protects about 690,000 immigrants, coupled with an unspecified amount of border wall funding — hewing to a framework that some GOP moderates explored in the aftermath of February’s failed Senate votes.
A three-year DACA extension could essentially remove immigration from the congressional agenda until after the 2020 presidential election by removing the threat of deportation for the young immigrants covered by the program.

That might kick the can down the road for another two-plus years, but it doesn’t necessarily mean it will. For one thing, the deal would freeze the program in place, which leaves ICE free to enforce the law against those who never applied for the program while it was still open. Those enforcement actions would invariably put political pressure on both parties to resolve the so-called “dreamer” issue permanently and completely.
It also ignores the delicate legal status of DACA. For now, courts have prevented Trump from closing down the program, but mainly on technical grounds. Courts have recognized presidential authority for regulatory changes, but have ruled that the Trump administration didn’t follow the legal process to make them. If Trump ramps up those efforts, he could moot those court rulings. A budget deal would likely include agreements to delay those efforts, but the courts are also still considering whether DACA was unconstitutional in the first place. It’s entirely possible that the Supreme Court will take that up in its next term, meaning that the program could be ended abruptly sometime in 2019. Democrats might need to make a deal ahead of that while they still have enough leverage to score some wins.

In the meantime, Trump gets a head start on the border wall and can start planning on finding other funding for it as needed. He can’t build it all at once anyway, but DHS can start addressing the most acute locations first and learn valuable lessons from those early installations it can apply later. It’s not ideal, as the magnet of family-reunification policies still remain, but it’s at least a start. That, of course, was Flake’s argument at the end of last month, but don’t expect the White House to mention that if this deal comes to pass.

https://hotair.com/archives/2018/03/...tm_campaign=nl

Would someone please plug that dudes mouth shut on DACA?!?

“Should we give a border wall for nothing? No, I don’t think so,” Pelosi said during a press briefing in the Capitol.

My understanding is that representatives are supposed to vote yay or nay on proposed legislation. I see nothing in the Constitution about using such vote as bargaining chips. The wall is one issue and DACA is a completely separate issue. This childish "give a border wall for nothing" mentality is what represents us? It needs to stop!

The White House denied this report yesterday as "fake news" by WaPo.

New Attempt to Pass Amnesty Next Week! 48 hours left to save ALIPAC
https://www.alipac.us/f8/new-attempt...alipac-356827/

William Gheen‏ @ALIPAC 2m2 minutes ago




I'm so sick of hearing President @realDonaldTrump who we elected to build a wall, deport illegals, & enforce our existing immigration laws as he promised us say DACA DACA DACA #DACA DACA DACA DACA DACA Amnesty all day and night bringing a new surge of illegals into USA! #StopDACA

https://twitter.com/ALIPAC/status/974663441607806976



https://gab.ai/ALiPAC/posts/21815858