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If the occupier of the Oval Office wants a massive appropriation for his border wall, congressional Democrats say, he's going to have to do much better by the Dreamers. Politico is reporting that the White House has offered to extend the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program through the fall of 2020 in exchange for $25 billion in funding to build his border wall.
But Democrats balked, demanding instead that the White House provide a pathway to citizenship to 1.8 million young immigrants eligible under the DACA program, those sources said. The White House might have been open to negotiating further, but Democrats were only willing to entertain the massive wall funding figure in exchange for helping the same number of immigrants that Trump embraced in a proposal earlier this year. […]
"We sent the minority leaders' offices a proposal that is pretty fair," said a White House official. "It seems like Democrats don’t want to take yes for an answer." […]
“The White House proposal gave them everything they asked for while leaving Dreamers in limbo, said a senior Democratic aide. “Our counter offer lined up perfectly with what the president had proposed but of course, he said no to his own deal. Again.”
Remarkably, the Trump offer did not include Stephen Miller's white supremacist wish list for immigration reforms, including ending family reunification and the visa lottery program. There is quite possibly some movement from the White House on this, though that only covers this weekend. With Trump, anything can change the minute he takes his phone into his stubby little hands.
Another report, from The Hill, suggests that Democratic leadership is ready to drop any demands regarding Dreamers, instead pushing for a clean spending bill with no riders at all. At least, that’s what Democratic Whip Rep. Steny Hoyer of Maryland is saying is “the best policy for us to do.” He’s the sole leader quoted there, so take that with a grain of salt. But it does highlight the problem of the House and the unpredictable Republican conference where the maniacs are, as usual, threatening to withhold their votes because they don’t like spending money.
It's likely that this week's omnibus funding bill, which has to pass by midnight Friday to avert a government shutdown (yeah, we're doing that again), is the last big legislative vehicle for a Dreamers deal to pass with.