“We must stop holding CHIP hostage,” said Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch, after Republicans had been holding the children’s health program hostage for months. Why the sudden turn-around? Because Republicans have found a hostage they are willing to exchange for nine million children if it gives them a chance to make Democrats look bad: Dreamers.
That’s right. Republicans are now planning to put six years of CHIP funding in the short-term spending bill that must pass in order to avert a government shutdown, while excluding a fix for 800,000 Dreamers. According to Republicans, the futures of those 800,000 young people are not an urgent issue because, hey, the federal courts are protecting them for the moment … from Republicans.
Last week, a federal judge ruled that, for now, the administration could not end the program, and the government has now resumed accepting renewal requests for it.
As a result, Senator Tom Cotton, Republican of Arkansas, argued on Tuesday that there was “no urgency right now to try to ram through a major change in immigration law by Friday.”
Mr. McConnell said lawmakers have “at least until March, at a minimum, and possibly even longer” to reach a DACA agreement.
Mind you, the Trump Justice Department is appealing that decision, looking to be allowed to deport Dreamers sooner. It’s also simply cruel to say that holding 800,000 people’s futures in limbo doesn’t matter. In the next few months, will you be making any important decisions about your life? Did you make any important decisions about your life in the past few months? Now imagine that you had to make those decisions with the threat of deportation from the only country you’ve ever known hanging over your head.
And while trading the children’s health care they’ve been holding hostage for the Dreamers they want to keep holding hostage may allow Republicans to peel off a few Democratic votes, under protest, there are signs they’re facing trouble in their own party as the extremists of the Freedom Caucus aren't fully on board, meaning the bill would require more Democratic votes to pass.
These people are the worst.