Emergency funding vote has downside for Dems

WASHINGTON» Democrats who voted on a spending bill this week to keep the federal government open are facing backlash from their party for not demanding a permanent solution for thousands of undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as children.

Immigration advocates in and out of Congress are railing against those who voted for the stopgap spending bill Thursday despite promises from Democratic leaders that they would force action on the issue by the end of the year. Even before the Senate vote, a group of House Democrats burst into the office of Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., the Senate minority leader, demanding an explanation. Protesters shouting “Shame on Kaine!” briefly occupied the office of Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., who said he voted for the measure to prevent a partial government shutdown and protect federal employees.

“Every single Democrat who voted for the continuing resolution just voted to deport ‘dreamers’ and leave kids without access to health insurance,” said Murshed Zaheed, the political director of the California-based progressive group CREDO Action. “Quite frankly, it’s a pathetic way for the Democratic Party’s leadership to close out a year in which millions of Americans fought back and resisted the Trump regime’s racist, xenophobic and dangerous agenda.”

The internal party drama is sure to increase the pressure on Schumer and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., to pass the Dream Act in January, when the latest stopgap spending bill is set to expire. It also threatens the party’s unity - and perhaps divisive primary challenges - at a time when Democrats are looking ahead to the 2018 midterms with new optimism that they have a chance to take control of both chambers.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, DCalif., appears to have anticipated the backlash. Feinstein, who is up for election next year in the state with the largest population of “dreamers,” surprised activists earlier this week when she said she would vote for the spending bill rather than risk a shutdown over immigration. But Feinstein switched her vote at the last minute.

A new poll, and pressure from activists, may have played a role in her thinking. On Wednesday, the University of California at Berkeley’s Institute of Governmental Studies released a survey showing her leading by 14 points in a race against Kevin de León, the Democratic leader in the California Senate. De León, who has been in the race for two months, was among the loudest voices demanding that Feinstein oppose the stopgap bill.

“I’ve talked with them, I’ve met with them, I understand their plight and it breaks my heart,” Feinstein said in a statement. “To allow these young people to suffer is tragic.”

The push for immigration legislation erupted in September, after President Donald Trump vowed to end a program known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, which was instituted by former president Barack Obama via executive action and allowed some immigrants brought into the country as children to stay legally.

At the time, Pelosi and Schumer pledged to enshrine the protections of DACA into law quickly, and advocates have kept the pressure up to ensure they do. This week, no Democrat who voted to fund the government was spared — and emotions ran high as a result.

On Thursday afternoon, Rep. Luis Gutiérrez, D-Ill., led a delegation from the Congressional Hispanic Caucus into a bitter showdown with Schumer. DACA recipients, Gutiérrez said, were being thrown “under the bus” out of convenience. Schumer told Gutiérrez to stop insulting his fellow Democrats.

Gutiérrez shot back, telling Schumer, “Don’t raise your voice.” United We Dream, an immigrant advocacy group that dispatched protesters to the Hill, announced on Thursday that it would “go after Democrats that are now the #DeportationCaucus, the shameful Senators and Representatives who voted to deport immigrant youth.”