President Biden reiterated his support for a Democratic effort to include immigration policy in his multi-trillion anti-poverty package, assuring a group of lawmakers that he would stand by them in their push to see a pathway to citizenship for millions signed into law.
Securing Biden’s vocal and support is a critical price of effort by Democratic lawmakers to seize on an opportunity to include long- sought immigration policy priorities without needed Republican support. Several Democrats have gone as far as to say the inclusion of those proposals in the $3.5 billion budget proposal is essential for their overall support of the legislation, which will include key planks for Biden’s agenda to direct hundreds of billions of dollars into education, home, and childcare and more robust and expansive paid leave proposals.
The group of 11 lawmakers requested the meeting with Biden and Vice President Harris shortly after a federal judge in Texas ruled against DACA earlier this month. The fallout has added new fuel to the push by lawmakers to permanently address the DREAMers through the sweeping package Democrats plan to move through a budgetary process that would allow legislation to pass in the Senate with a simple majority vote. For more than a decade, lawmakers have sought to find a pathway for immigration reform, falling short multiple times.
With the Democratic party in control of only 50 votes in the Senate and the latest iteration of bipartisan immigration reform talks stalled, lawmakers have trained their sigh on including significant elements of immigration reform in the so- called reconciliation package. Representative Raul Ruiz, the chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus said the group was looking to expand the scope of the effort, working from a series of different immigration proposals to pull as many pieces as possible together that could pass muster under the Senate rules guiding the process. That process is currently underway as congressional Democrats move forward on the dual track process to enact Biden’s $4 trillion economic agenda.
Senator Alex Padilla, a Democrat from California stated, “We are confident, but time is of the essence. And this isn’t just important, this process, this opportunity right here truly is our moonshot and it’s just — we’re just so grateful the President reaffirmed his support for the cause, for the issue and for this approach.”
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