Trump says the "time is right for an immigration bill"
WASHINGTON -- President Trump may be offering an opportunity to partner with Democrats during his address before Congress -- on the issue of immigration.
“The time is right for an immigration bill, as long as there is compromise on both sides,” he said at a lunch with network anchors Tuesday afternoon.
A senior administration official offered some assurance for “dreamers,” too. These are the individuals who were illegally brought into the U.S. as children by their parents. Dreamers “will be just fine....We haven’t thought beyond the criminals,” the official said, in terms of undocumented immigrants being rounded up. The official went as far as to say there was a possibility of legal status for Dreamers, without leaving the country first.
While this may sound promising for the Dreamers, the official cautioned that the president’s base would have to support this, as well. And he would also be likely to run into opposition among conservatives, most of whom oppose a path to legal status for undocumented immigrants.
At his address Tuesday night, the president will also talk about repealing and replacing the nation’s health-care law, the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which was the signature legislation of his predecessor, Barack Obama.
A senior Trump administration official said that Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price has been given considerable power in drafting the legislation, and on timing, said that “we’re very close.”
The replacement for the ACA “will not provide instant gratification,” the official said, but “competition will drive prices down.”