'This week is pivotal' for ensuring DACA fix by year's end, House Republican says
Tuesday, December 12, 2017
'This week is pivotal' for ensuring DACA fix by year's end, House Republican says
by Laura Barrón-López | Dec 11, 2017, 7:26 PM
This week will be “decisive” in determining whether Congress is going to pass a legislative fix for undocumented immigrants who came to the U.S. as children by the end of the year, said Rep. Carlos Curbelo, R-Fla.
Curbelo stressed that time is running out for lawmakers working on a compromise that effectively weds a solution for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program and border security measures.
“This week is pivotal,” Curbelo told reporters. “Unless the Senate is able to produce something, if we don’t get a product out this week, I think it’s going to be very difficult to do it by the end of the year.”
The bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus is working on compromise text they want pushed through before the end of the year as part of negotiations on the larger year-end spending bill Congress must pass by Dec. 22 to keep the government open into the new year.
Curbelo leveled some criticism at the leaders of the Problem Solvers Caucus in particular, saying “there’s been a reluctance to come out and say this is what we propose.”
“The Problem Solvers Caucus as far as I’m concerned has a product,” Curbelo said. “The leadership of the caucus has not agreed to allow that product to be published. It reflects a very healthy compromise.”
“I hold the leadership of the caucus responsible for where we are,” he added.
Pressed on why he blames the leaders — Reps. Tom Reed R-N.Y. and Josh Gottheimer D-N.J. — Curbelo said the co-chairs “have not presented the compromise to the entire caucus to try to get the votes necessary to proceed and time is running out. ”
Reed and Gottheimer defended the work by the caucus, issuing a joint statement in response to Curbelo's comments.
"We are working around the clock to find a dreamer-border security solution, including a meeting we just had this evening with members of the Problem Solvers Caucus and bipartisan leaders on immigration issues," the co-chairs said in a statement. "We are more interested in getting it right than rushing to a reckless plan that fails to achieve a bipartisan solution for the American people.”
Curbelo said the compromise includes Dream Act components to provide a path to citizenship, but didn’t specify. It doesn’t include money for a wall, but does include funds for “some physical barriers but [they’re] very modest.”
There’s no interior enforcement provisions, Curbelo said, referring to measures that would bulk up state and local enforcement and one that would make E-Verify mandatory for all employers.
“This should have been out two weeks ago, three weeks ago,” he said. Asked if the caucus has any assurances from GOP leadership that a compromise like theirs would be moved through the House, Curbelo deflected, saying the bipartisan working group needs to just release a product first.
“But, that takes time which is why it’s been frustrating that we are where we are,” he said. “I’m hopeful that we can get it all done this week and take a run at it next week.”
To do that, Curbelo said, lawmakers on both sides have to realize they aren’t going to get their “ideal” bill.
A number of Democrats — House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi included — have said they won’t leave town without a fix for DACA recipients.
There's also a working group on the Senate side trying to come to an agreement on DACA and border security provisions.
Some lawmakers have said they have until March to take action, but Dreamers are already reeling from President Trump’s decision to revoke the program. If Congress delays a fix, DACA recipients whose permits expire after March 5 won’t be able to renew them and large numbers will lose their jobs, and face the risk of deportation.
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/th...rticle/2643186
