Democrats CANNOT use $3.5trillion spending bill to give millions of immigrants a pathway to citizenship, Senate's parliamentarian rules
Democrats cannot use their $3.5 trillion spending bill to give millions of immigrants a pathway to citizenship, the Senate´s parliamentarian ruled late Sunday in a crushing blow to the party's agenda.
The decision by Elizabeth MacDonough, the Senate´s nonpartisan interpreter of its rules, is a potentially damaging setback for President Joe Biden, congressional Democrats and their allies in the pro-immigration and progressive communities.
It badly damages Democrats´ hopes of unilaterally enacting - over Republican opposition - changes letting several categories of immigrants gain permanent residence and possibly citizenship by issuing 8 million green cards.
Among the recipients were set to be the so-called 'Dreamers' - young immigrants who were brought illegally to the country by their parents when they were children.
With these green cards, the immigrants would be granted legal permanent resident status, allowing them to eventually apply for citizenship if they meet other qualifications.
Elizabeth MacDonough, the Senate´s nonpartisan interpreter of its rules, announced on Sunday that Democrats cannot use their $3.5trillion spending bill to let millions of immigrants gain permanent residence and possibly citizenship
In her decision, MacDonough ruled that the proposal does not meet the strict rules of what can be included in a spending bill, calling it 'by any standards a broad, new immigration policy.
'The policy changes of this proposal far outweigh the budgetary impact scored to it, and it is not appropriate for inclusion in reconciliation,' she wrote, according to The Hill, referring to the budgetary process Democrats are using to circumvent a filibuster by Senate Republicans.
Democrats pitched her the idea earlier this month, the New York Times reports, to allow undocumented immigrants to become U.S. citizens if they passed background and health checks, and paid a $1,500 fee, among other requirements.
The plan would have also recaptured at least 226,000 visas that went unused in previous years because of 'COVID-19 or bureaucratic delay, allowing more visas to be issued.
Democrats estimated the proposal would add $1.5 trillion to the U.S. economy over the next decade, creating more than 400,000 jobs, but the Congressional Budget Office said it would increase the country's deficit by $139 billion over 10 years due largely to the federal benefits the immigrants would qualify for.
'The reasons that people risk their lives to come to this country — to escape religious and political persecution, famine, war, unspeakable violence and lack of opportunity in their home countries — cannot be measured in federal dollars,' MacDonough wrote in her decision.
Republicans also argued to MacDonough that immigration reform was outside the scope of what could be passed under reconciliation, a view she seemed to agree with.
Under the rules of a reconciliation, MacDonough noted, any provision added to a spending bill has to affect the federal government's spending or revenue in a way that cannot be 'merely incidental,' which she ruled it was.
'Changing the law to clear the way to LPR status is [a] tremendous and enduring policy change that dwarfs its budgetary impact,' she wrote in her decision.
Estimates vary on how many immigrants would have benefitted from the proposal, as it encompasses young immigrants brought illegally to the country as children, often called 'Dreamers;' immigrants with Temporary Protected Status who´ve fled countries stricken by natural disasters or extreme violence; essential workers; and farm workers.
But the liberal Center for American Progress has estimated that 6 million people could be helped by the Democratic effort.
Biden had proposed a broader drive that would have affected 11 million immigrants.
The decision issues a blow to President Joe Biden and the progressive wing of the Democratic Party's pro-immigration agenda
Greisa Martinez Rosas, executive director of United We Dream, tweeted that the fight for citizenship is not over
Democrats and their pro-immigration allies have said they will offer alternative approaches to MacDonough that would open a doorway to permanent status to at least some immigrants.
'We are deeply disappointed in this decision but the fight to provide lawful status for immigrants in budget reconciliation continues,' Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a written statement.
'Senate Democrats have prepared alternate proposals and will be holding additional meetings with the Senate parliamentarian in the coming days.'
One such approach would be to update a 'registry' date that allows some immigrants in the U.S. by that time to become permanent residents if they meet certain conditions, but it was unclear if they would pursue that option or how the parliamentarian would rule.
'The parliamentarian´s recommendation is just that: a recommendation,' tweeted Greisa Martinez Rosas, executive director of United We Dream, an immigrants' rights group.
'Democrats can still deliver citizenship this year. It´s time they side with millions of immigrants, our friends, and our communities.
'This isn´t over,' she continued. 'We need citizenship THIS YEAR."
The House has previously passed two smaller bills to provide a pathway to citizenship for these immigrants, but Senate Democrats have been unable to get a plan passed with the 10 Republican votes needed to break a filibuster.
Left vulnerable to those bill-killing delays, which require 60 Senate votes to defuse, the immigration provisions have virtually no chance in the 50-50 Senate.
Under the proposal, immigrants brought to the United States as children would have been granted a pathway to citizenship
The provisions would have created varying, multiyear processes for immigrants to gain legal permanent residence, which in turn would allow many of the so-called Dreamers to pursue citizenship
The parliamentarian's ruling is certain to rile progressive Democrats, for whom inclusion of the immigration provisions in the overall $3.5 trillion bill has been a top priority.
The legislation would boost spending for social safety net, environment and other programs and largely finance the initiatives with tax increases on the rich and corporations.
Moderate Democrats want to water down some of the provisions, including shrinking its price tag, but progressives oppose trimming it.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin, of Illinois, as been leading bipartisan talks on the sweeping legislation that would satisfy virtually every Democrat in Congress, but the process has been slow-going, the Hill reports.
The Democrats cannot lose any votes in the 50-50 Senate and can lose no more than three in the House.
The party could also face renewed calls to get rid of the filibuster, which would allow them to pass immigration reform and other priorities with a simple majority.
If they were to do so, the Hill reports, they could fire MacDonough or formally overrule her on the Senate floor.
No comments