Ariz. reps: Progress on DACA, no Trump deal

Sinema, McSally recount meeting at White House

Hours before President Donald Trump reached tentative terms Wednesday with Democratic leaders on “dreamers” and border security, he met with a small group of House members and made a similar pitch.

Trump opened the Wednesday afternoon meeting with nine House Democrats and five House Republicans by telling them to pass legislation on dreamers by linking it to increased border security, but not necessarily his coveted border wall.

U.S. Reps. Kyrsten Sinema and Martha McSally, both of Arizona, described that White House meeting as an effort to identify bipartisan ground on several issues, from tax reform to infrastructure to health care.

The Democrats and Republicans who were present generally agreed with Trump’s approach, the two attendees said. But some left feeling they were well short of a bipartisan “deal.”

Trump is phasing out Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, the Obama-era program that shields from deportation young immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally as children. He has said he wants Congress to pass legislation to replace the policy, which former President Barack Obama implemented through executive action.

“I was kind of surprised that he brought it (DACA and border security)

up as the first issue, but there it was,” said Sinema, a Democrat who represents a Phoenix-area district. “He was not attached to a border wall as the companion to DACA. It was clear that was not a litmus for him. But he did make it clear several times throughout the meeting that he felt that politically it wasn’t feasible to pass DACA unless there was some sort of border-security companion in the bill . ... The president was surprisingly open on what that security package could look like.”

Sinema added, “I didn’t think that a deal had been struck. What I thought was that there was an agreement in principle to move forward.”

The news Wednesday night would focus on the agreement in principle Trump later struck with Democratic leadership. That agreement with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi is to work on legislation joining a DACA replacement with added border security, but not necessarily a border wall.

“It sounded like a similar conversation,” McSally, a Tucson Republican, said of the two Wednesday meetings. “We didn’t walk out of there saying we got a deal done.”

Both Sinema and McSally, who chairs a subcommittee on border security, said they support technological surveillance at the border, including drones and cameras.

McSally is also one of eight Republicans named to a working group intended to find common ground within the GOP on dreamers and border security.

There was no discussion of whether the dreamers should be given a pathway to U.S. citizenship or granted legal status, or of other key details, Sinema and McSally said.

Trump told the group that any effort on the dreamers would have to be joined by commitments to improve border security, though it would not include the southern border wall, which was the centerpiece of his campaign for president. That is essentially the same understanding that Schumer, D-N.Y., and Pelosi, DCalif., trumpeted.

During his August rally in Phoenix, Trump said he might be willing to shut down the government over funding for the border wall. A House bill that includes $1.6 billion in initial funding for such a wall has stalled in the Senate, where Democrats have indicated the wall is a non-starter.

Sinema said that in the earlier meeting, Trump noted he wants a merit-based immigration system focused on adding skills needed by employers.

There was significant Democratic interest in helping shape tax changes that would include cutting the corporate income-tax rate. Many of those at the meeting said they want any tax changes to avoid adding to the national debt, which topped $20 trillion for the first time last week, according to Sinema and McSally.

Sinema and other Democrats asked Trump to press for their inclusion in drafting tax legislation spearheaded by House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas, who chairs the House Ways and Means Committee. Trump was noncommittal on the issue, Sinema said.

Trump said little about an infrastructure plan that many think could gain at least some Democratic support, depending on how it is structured. “The talk there was brief and very vague,” Sinema said.

A dozen of the 14 House members, including Sinema and McSally, are part of the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus, which helped put together a proposal in July to shore up the Affordable Care Act, popularly known as “Obamacare,” through a series of compromise moves.

Trump initially balked at that proposal, saying it wasn’t the repeal-and-replace plan he wants, Sinema said. Trump also noted that the market for individuals seeking to buy health insurance on their own would collapse if he didn’t pay insurers the monthly subsidies, worth billions, that help underwrite those pricier policies, she said.

McSally said she told Trump that the proposal would ensure the Democrats’ goal of stabilizing those subsidy payments, but would also accomplish several more Republican health-care goals, including easing mandates on employers.

Sinema and others told Trump that the Problem Solvers’ plan isn’t intended as a permanent fix to the health-care system, but would prevent the collapse of a small but vital segment of the nation’s insurance marketplace.

Again, Trump made no firm commitment, Sinema said.

“That didn’t fall on deaf ears, but he did not buy in immediately,” she said. “He did not commit to anything.”

“I didn’t think that a deal had been struck. What I thought was that there was an agreement in principle to move forward.” REP. KYRSTEN SINEMA D-ARIZ., ON WEDNESDAY’S MEETING WITH PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP