Chuck Schumer says Dems will try to tack Dream Act onto must-pass legislation
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Wednesday that Democrats will try to tack on a measure to must-pass legislation that would provide a pathway to citizenship for "Dreamers" if GOP leaders don't bring the bill up for a vote by the end of the month.
"Congress has an ability and an obligation to act, which is why we today are calling on Speaker Ryan and Leader McConnell to immediately put the DREAM Act on the floor for a vote in the House and Senate," the New York Democrat said at a press conference Wednesday.
"But let us say this, and I think I speak for the Leader as well, if a clean DREAM Act does not come to the floor in September, we're prepared to attach it to other items this Fall until it passes," he added.
The DREAM Act has been reintroduced in this Congress by Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, and Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Illinois, which would provide a pathway to citizenship for people who came to the U.S. illegally as children.
This also comes a day after the Trump administration announced that it was ending the 2012 program created by Obama that has deferred deportations for more than 780,000 people who came to the U.S. illegally as children. Key Republicans including Ryan had called on the president to hold off so that Congress could address the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. The decision gives lawmakers until early March to come up with legislative fix.
Some of the must-pass legislation lawmakers face include a debt ceiling increase and a government funding bill by the end of the month. Democrats, however, would need to win over Republican votes to add the Dream Act to legislation.
Ryan suggested at his press conference Wednesday morning that any legislative fix for DACA would also need to address border security.