50 Republicans Are Willing To Push Ryan Over The Cliff To Solve The DREAMers Problem

When going over the new poll from Muhlenberg College of Pennsylvania voters the other day, I noticed question about DACA. It was the most agreed-upon topic in the entire survey 81% of voters favor DACA. That's especially interesting because 40% of voters identified themselves as Republicans. What about other states? I have a feeling that voters in other states-- maybe not Confederate states, but normal states-- feel the same way as Pennsylvania voters. How do i know? "Queen of the hill" rules rarely pass. When it does it enables the House to consider a specified measure without approval from the majority party's leadership.

This week 2 Democrats and 2 Republicans-- Will Hurd (R-TX), Jeff Denham (R-CA), Pete Aguilar (D-CA) and Michelle Lujan Grisham (D-NM)-- have been pushing one through Congress to save the DREAMers from Trump. It would be a slap in the face to the lame duck Speaker, Paul Ryan, and his puppet Rules Committee chair, Pete Sessions. They need 218 votes to override Ryan's opposition and claim they have 240 votes-- 190 Democrats and 50 Republicans. I'd love to see the list of Democrats who have refused to sign on... as well as the Republican who have.

Denham: "We talk a lot about transparency around here and regular order. Well, that’s what we’re doing here today we want to follow regular order and have a debate... [Ryan] can put whatever he wants in the bill. I’m sure with the speaker’s wisdom he will find whatever the president wants and will sign."

Ryan is using Trump as an excuse for opposing a solution. "Our goal," his spokesperson said, "is to get a DACA and border security solution into law, and we certainly don’t want to pursue a strategy that the president won’t sign. Republicans made three good-faith offers during the omnibus negotiations and Democrats declined all of them. We continue to work to find the support for a solution that addresses both border security and DACA."

The next step would be a discharge petition, the equivalent of a vote of no confidence in Ryan, McCarthy and Scalise. The Dallas Morning News reported that something like 124,000 DACA recipients live in Texas. In all, the proposal covers between 800,000 and 1.3 million DACA recipients, all of whom arrived as children before June 15, 2007.

Last September, Trump announced that he would shut the program down as of March 5, arguing that his predecessor didn’t have the authority to grant permanent legal status. He called on Congress to find a permanent solution to protect Dreamers from deportation, but that hasn’t happened.

During budget talks, Trump tried to wrest $25 billion from Congress to build a border wall in exchange for providing DACA recipients a path to citizenship. Few lawmakers supported that idea.

Hurd said he’d likely support one of the four proposals-- a measure by Denham that is expected to include Hurd’s “USA Act.” The bill, which has bipartisan support, would create a permanent solution for DACA recipients and implement border security measures through technology and some “physical barriers.”

...Denham, a Republican, said passing the resolution will allow for “a full debate” of the DACA program, but he noted that Ryan would have the final say in what bills get to the House floor.

“We’re going to continue to show the speaker and the president that the will of the House, the will of people is right here on demanding a vote,” Denham said, adding that he expects the amount of support will catch Trump’s attention.

Ryan pushed aside the possibility of including DACA in February’s budget deal because he said he wouldn’t want “to just risk a veto” from Trump.

In February, the U.S. Supreme Court let DACA stay in place as challenges work through lower courts.

Hurd said his constituents want a secure border and a permanent solution for Dreamers. And he is hopeful that Trump would sign a DACA bill into law.

“Let’s have a permanent legislative fix for over a million young men and women who have only known the United States of America as a home,” he said, adding, “I actually believe the president wants to see this get done.”

DuWayne Gregory was speaking for a load of Democratic challenger when he called out Long Island incumbent Peter King yesterday: "Washington DC’s inaction on dreamers is yet another example of King’s ineffectiveness. He serves a sizable immigrant community and that community has gone unrepresented when it comes to their issues and fears. King is a proud supporter of Trump’s border wall and xenophobic policies. King's recent remarks on DACA is more of the same from Republicans in unsafe seats. Pandering to both sides with empty rhetoric is not going to fool any of his voters this time around. This district is ready to flip and he knows it."