Rep. Linda Sanchez singled out House Speaker Paul Ryan as the “sole impediment” to passing a legislative fix for young undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children.
Mixed signals from the White House and competing factions on the Hill have made it difficult for Congress to strike a deal that would provide a pathway to citizenship for recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program in exchange for enhanced border security.
The California Democrat put the blame on Ryan, arguing he should put one of the bipartisan proposals on the floor or the Dream Act on the floor and see which one garners the votes to pass.
“Sole impediment to a DACA fix is the speaker’s unwillingness to schedule Dream Act or any other solution for a floor vote,” Sanchez said in an interview with Latino reporters Thursday. “I think once we did pass something the political pressure would make it very likely that the president would sign something.”
Ryan has said that he supports immigration reform and providing a fix for the roughly 800,000 DACA recipients who are losing their protections daily. Trump moved to kill the program in September.
Asked if she believes Ryan wants to help find a solution, Sanchez said, “I don’t know.”
“As much as he loves to play the Catholic card and say that he really feels for these Dreamers and he wants people to believe he’s empathetic — schedule the vote,” said Sanchez, the fifth-ranking House Democrat. “Man up. Put your money where your mouth is. Be apart of the solution not apart of the problem.”
Democrats have pressed Republicans to attach a DACA fix and border security measures to a large deal that would increase caps on defense and domestic spending. But two days out from a possible government shutdown, congressional leaders haven’t even agreed to those spending caps. To avoid a shutdown, Republicans are putting forward a four-week continuing resolution to keep the government open until Feb. 16.
Ryan has said there will be enough Republican votes in the House to pass the stopgap measure, but in the upper chamber Republicans need help from Democrats. It appears the majority of Senate Democrats are going to stay united in voting against the CR because Republicans didn’t include them in discussions when writing it and it doesn’t include a DACA fix. And not every Senate Republican is expected to vote for the short-term measure either.
Sanchez is confident the shutdown will fall squarely on Republicans as would failure to pass a fix for so-called Dreamers.
“I have been very clear to Dreamers that our leverage is small and [Democrats] are trying to use what little leverage we have as best we can,” she said. “When you ask Dreamers who’s out there marching with them or meeting with them? Not the Republicans.”
A spokesperson for Ryan did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
