Don and Dems hash out deal over dinner
President Trump joined Democratic congressional leaders Charles Schumer and Nancy Pelosi over dinner Wednesday to forge a deal to protect children of undocumented immigrants — a deal the Dems said does not include money for a border wall.
The agreement with the Senate and House minority leaders to help so-called “Dreamers” came after Trump invited them to the White House for Chinese food.
Under the deal, Congress would pass a variation of the bipartisan DREAM Act (Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors), along with measures to enhance border security, but it does not include funding for the wall.
“We agreed to enshrine the protections of DACA into law quickly, and to work out a package of border security, excluding the wall, that’s acceptable to both sides,” Schumer and Pelosi said in a joint statement, referring to President Barack Obama’s executive order on Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, which Trump has nullified as illegal.
The White House said in its own statement that the president had “a constructive working dinner” with Schumer, Pelosi and administration officials “to discuss policy and legislative priorities.”
Later, the administration pushed back on the idea that the wall was off the table.
“While DACA and border security were both discussed, excluding the wall was certainly not agreed to,” Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders tweeted.
Schumer spokesman Matt House then clarified: “The president made clear he would continue pushing the wall, just not as part of this agreement.”
The announcement of the Dreamer deal drew quick condemnation by conservatives.
“If AP is correct, Trump base is blown up, destroyed, irreparable, and disillusioned beyond repair. No promise is credible,” Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) tweeted.
Breitbart, the news outlet run by former Trump aide Steve Bannon, put up a headline that said, “Amnesty Don.”
The pending DREAM Act legislation would allow people who were brought to the US illegally as children by their parents to earn citizenship if they graduate from high school, seek a higher educa- tion, serve in the military or work lawfully for three years.
Congress has tried unsuccessfully to pass protections for young Dreamers for 16 years, but Trump’s recent decision to end in six months the Obama program protecting them gave the matter urgency. DACA gave work permits to some 800,000 children of undocumented immigrants. Trump urged Congress to find a solution, and he found willing partners in Schumer and Pelosi.
Democrats had initially feared Trump would hold DREAM Act legislation hostage in order to fund the border wall.
The deal marks the second major accomplishment the president has reached with Democrats in as many weeks. They also came to agreement on the debt ceiling and hurricane-relief funding.
Meanwhile, Rep. Chris Collins, a Buffalo-area Republican, backed a more restrictive bill for Dreamers, the Recognizing America’s Children Act, which would apply to fewer people.