Senate mulls DACA extension, wall funding in March spending bill
Senate mulls DACA extension, wall funding in March spending bill
February 15, 2018
Susan Ferrechio
"If we couldn't get it together this week ... we've got other things we've got to do. Nominations and other bipartisan legislation," Sen. John Cornyn said.
Temporary protection for Dreamers could be squeezed into a March spending package along with border security funding, lawmakers said after the Senate failed to pass a more comprehensive measure on Thursday.
Senators announced the new plan after emerging from the chamber, where lawmakers defeated four immigration-related measures offered by both parties that would have provided Dreamers with permanent protection from deportation.
Two of the measures included $25 billion for border security and a pathway to citizenship for 1.8 million younger immigrants, or Dreamers, who came here illegally as children and may be at risk of deportation with the expiration of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.
Republicans said the failure of the four bills has pointed them in a new direction. They will instead consider extending the DACA program for several years in a provision that would be included in the fiscal 2018 spending bill that must pass by March 23. The measure, known as the omnibus spending bill, would have to also include money for border security and a southern border wall, but lawmakers did not specify how much funding.
“If there can be some negotiation leading up to the omnibus, perhaps there will be some temporary [DACA] provision, which to me is not great but it’s kind of where we are,” Majority Whip John Cornyn, R-Texas, told reporters after four proposals were defeated.
Lawmakers defeated a bill backed mostly by Democrats and eight Republicans. It would have provided a pathway to citizenship for 1.8 million Dreamers and provided $25 billion in border security funding. But the bill also included enforcement priority provisions that many Republicans opposed, and it lacked changes to chain migration and an end to the visa lottery system sought by President Trump in another measure that also came up short on votes.
The authors of the bipartisan proposal said they are not giving up on their plan and believe they can tweak it to earn more GOP support.
Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., said if the enforcement provisions are stripped from the proposal it would gain more GOP votes, although he acknowledged it would still fall short of the 60 needed to advance in the Senate.
“It would have gotten much closer,” Corker said. “It wasn’t as balanced as it needed to be.”
Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., a main sponsor of the bipartisan plan, told reporters he’ll work with Republican leaders to get another floor vote.
The measure fell six votes short on Thursday, and President Trump had threatened to veto it.
“We’ll have a chance to regroup and take a look at what we can to take a bipartisan approach, modify some of those things where there were questions and try to see if we can’t get a second shot,” Rounds said after the vote.
But Republican leaders appeared reluctant for a round two on immigration.
“I don’t see it getting dedicated floor time,” Cornyn said. “If we couldn’t get it together this week... we’ve got other things we’ve got to do. Nominations and other bipartisan legislation."
Cornyn said immigration reform in the Senate is “endlessly frustrating. Bringing it up again on the floor for debates and votes would not produce enough consensus to pass a bill."
“I thought the deadline and the empathy people had for these young people would be enough to change the outcome here,” Cornyn said. “Apparently not yet.”
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/se...rticle/2649251
