With the latest deadline for the shutdown of the government again looming this Friday, The Hill is reporting that Senator John McCain (R-AZ), along with Senate colleague Christopher Coons (D-DE), is planning on introducing a clean bipartisan immigration bill that would not include funding for President Trump’s controversial border wall in an effort to end the budget impasse.
The legislation would provide a path to citizenship for the “Dreamers” enrolled in the DACA program that Trump unilaterally ended last year as well as punting on the border security debate by ordering a Congressional study to determine what the best way to achieve a secure border would be.
The proposed bill would give legal status to any immigrant brought to the USA as a child who has lived in the country since Dec. 31, 2013. An essentially similar bill has been introduced in the House of Representatives by Reps. Will Hurd (R-TX) and Pete Aguilar (D-CA).
McCain told The Wall Street Journal on Sunday that:
“It’s time we end the gridlock so we can quickly move on to completing a long-term budget agreement that provides our men and women in uniform the support they deserve.”
“While reaching a deal cannot come soon enough for America’s service members, the current political reality demands bipartisan cooperation to address the impending expiration of the DACA program and secure the southern border,” he continued.
While Senators McCain and Coons are displaying an admirable degree of bipartisanship in attempting to resolve the immigration issue before the impasse forces another government shutdown, the lack of funding for Trump’s ridiculous wall means that there’s no guarantee that the President will sign the bill if it manages to pass both houses of Congress.
