Whoop there it is, Sorry Mexipawns
you were used by Democrats!
The Senate on Thursday defeated a bipartisan bill that many Democrats thought was their best shot at finding an immigration agreement, in a vote that will likely force the Senate to go back to the drawing board on an issue that President Trump has said needs a solution by March 5.
The Senate called up an immigration proposal from Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, Mike Rounds, R-S.D., and Angus King, I-Maine, that would have enabled citizenship for 1.8 million young people who were brought to the United States illegally as children. The legislation would provided $25 billion in border security funding and would prohibit Dreamers from sponsoring citizenship for their parents.The proposal would have codified Homeland Security enforcement priorities to serious criminals and those who arrived in the country illegally after January 1.
But it does not include language to end chain migration and the diversity visa lottery, two goals that are important to Trump and most Republicans. And as expected, it failed to win the 60 votes needed to end debate on the language due to stiff Republican opposition — it fell in a 54-45 vote.
Kamala Harris of California, Martin Heinrich of New Mexico and Tom Udall of New Mexico were the only Democrats to vote against the bill.
This week, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said the bill was the “best chance” at reaching a deal, even though it excluded two major GOP priorities.
The legislation was denounced by the Trump administration as a “mass amnesty” proposal and President Trump threatened to veto it. But it won the support of eight Republicans, and Rounds argued that it could serve as a step toward some final agreement.
“We are bringing attention to the fact that you really can work across the aisle,” Rounds said. “And you really can build a coalition of people that will accept border security and $25 billion dollars, and that we can do something for these kids while still laying groundwork so that the parents do not get a leg up on anybody else.”
The failed vote followed two other bills that failed to reach 60 votes. First, the Senate defeated a bill from Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Chris Coons, D-Del., that tried to pair legal protection for Dreamers and about $3 billion in border security funding, far short of what Trump has demanded.
Most Republicans and President Trump are looking for $25 billion in border wall funding, plus language on chain migration and the visa lottery to tamp down on immigration levels.
The McCain-Coons bill couldn’t make the 60-vote threshold, and fell 52-47.
www.washingtonexaminer.com/best-chance-for-immigration-deal-fails-in-the-senate/article/2649221