House Republicans predict 300 lawmakers would back DACA fix by New Year's Eve
House Republicans predict 300 lawmakers would back DACA fix by New Year's Eve
by Anna Giaritelli | Nov 9, 2017, 11:06 AM
A dozen House Republicans are pressuring GOP leaders to support a legislative solution to the expiring Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program before the end of 2017, and predicted they'd have overwhelming backing.
Multiple members in attendance predicted 300 members in the 435-member House would back such a bill.
"No bill is going to be perfect, but inaction is just unacceptable. We stand here ready to work with the speaker's working group, with the White House, with our friends from both sides of the aisle to pass a legislative solution this year," Rep. Dan Newhouse, R-Wash., who organized the press conference, told reporters at the U.S. Capitol.
"Every time that Congress kicks this can down the road, people, real people, are hurt," Newhouse added.
Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., denounced reports that conservatives are uninterested in moving on this type of immigration policy because of underlying issues.
"I know that sometimes in the press you read about all the Republicans don't want to help young people to realize their dreams.
Well, here you have living proof as for why that's not true. There's a whole bunch of us that want to make this dream a reality and I stand beside them," Ros-Lehtinen said.
Although President Trump gave Congress six months to find a way to legalize a program that was created through an executive order former President Barack Obama signed in 2012, members worry the past two months of delays could continue if both parties fail to unite around a bill.
Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, is optimistic about bipartisan talks on any DACA legislation and predicted any bill that originates in the House will have "well over 300 votes to send this bill to the Senate."
"Let's take up the president's challenge, let's get it done, let's get a bill to his desk that he can sign and say 'merry Christmas' to a lot of folks across the country," Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., added.
Rep. Pete King, R-N.Y., said the issue is not a Republican or Democratic matter, but an obligation to help people.
"This is not part of the overall immigration issue. I don't see that at all. I believe in strong borders, I believe in the strength of the e-Verify system," King said. "When you're talking about young people who know no country other than the United States as being their own, we have to stand with them."
The Dream Act, proposed by Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., has gained the most attention out of DACA bills.
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/ho...rticle/2640153
