Immigration deal distant as leaders avert shutdown
WASHINGTON — A deal between President Donald Trump and Congress to protect young immigrants from deportation remained distant Tuesday, as House Republicans leaders shifted to a painful backup plan: crafting a stopgap funding bill that would merely delay the threat of an election-year shutdown.
The focus on a budget Plan B — another temporary measure that would buy time for more talks — was the latest sign of a breakdown in bipartisan deal-making in a Congress that has struggled to find common ground even on areas of broad agreement. Trump’s incendiary remarks about “s---hole” countries in Africa last week dashed any hopes of a quick immigration deal coming together this week. Democrats appeared to see scant reason to bargain with a president many in their party view as holding racist views on immigration. GOP leaders turned to rounding up Republican votes to fund agencies set to begin closing by Friday night.
“Where does it end?” said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. “Does it end with the government being shut down? We should all be kicked out if that happens.”
Graham is among a halfdozen senators of both parties who crafted an immigration agreement that Trump shot down last week. The agreement would have protected young immigrants brought to the country illegally as children — called “Dreamers” — and toughened border security with steps including funds to start building Trump’s long-promised border wall. Trump has said he’ll cancel the program — known as the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA — in March if no agreement emerges. Some Democrats are demanding a deal as a condition for their vote to keep agencies afloat.
The White House acknowledged the unlikelihood of a deal emerging in time.
“I think that we’re optimistic that we’ll get a deal. I think this week would be fairly Herculean,” said White House aide Marc Short.