House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Thursday didn’t rule out the possibility of broad immigration reform deal to end an impasse between Democrats and President Trump over border wall funding.
When asked if she’s open to exchanging border wall funding for a deal to legalize Dreamers, those younger immigrants who came to the U.S. illegally as children, she said, “We have always stood ready to discuss comprehensive immigration reform and, of course, the Dreamers.”
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She told reporters, however, that Democrats and the Trump administration “haven’t had that discussion” and are instead caught in a fight over the wall funding.
The two sides, Pelosi said, “are having conversations,” but she didn’t offer any details about the talks and said they have been hindered by Trump’s negotiating style. Both Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., say Trump is an impossible negotiator and has continually changed his requests for funding.
“The president just keeps upping the ante,” Pelosi told reporters Thursday. “They have been moving the goalpost so many times they are out of the stadium.”
The wall funding is at the heart of an impasse over government funding that has left nine departments and dozens of agencies partially closed. Democrats have refused to provide any funding for the wall, and Trump said he won’t sign the spending bills into law without it.
Across the Capitol, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., is writing a proposal with a small group of Republican senators that would provide border wall funding in exchange for legalization of Dreamers. If they get anywhere, it could end up testing Pelosi’s commitment to a Dreamer deal.
Trump’s top adviser and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, huddled with Graham in his office late Wednesday, presumably to discuss the proposal, and Trump has signaled he is at least open to considering such a plan.
