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| Loren Elliott/Reuters |
The Senate parliamentarian has rejected Democrats’ third attempt to include immigration in their social-spending package, according to several reports.
Democrats had hoped to use a technical procedure to provide temporary deportation protections and work permits to millions of illegal immigrants before Elizabeth MacDonough, a nonpartisan Senate referee, rejected the proposal on Thursday, according to the Wall Street Journal and CNN.
MacDonough’s guidance likely eliminates any possibility that Democrats can include immigration measures in the bill.
In order to use the reconciliation process, which would allow Democrats to pass President Biden’s “Build Back Better” legislation with just a simple majority, the bill must comply with budget rules that limit what can be included in the legislation. The rules require any policy in the bill to have an impact on federal spending and revenues that isn’t “merely incidental” to its nonbudgetary goals.
The news comes one day after reporting from several outlets indicated that Senate Democrats are likely to miss their self-imposed deadline to pass the social spending bill by the end of the month. --->READ MORE HERE
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| Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call file photo |
It was the third attempt by Democrats to include immigration provisions in their sweeping social spending plan
Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough rejected Democrats’ third attempt to include immigration provisions in their sweeping social spending plan, dealing a potentially fatal blow to the party’s efforts to protect millions of undocumented immigrants for the first time in years.
The plan, included in the House version of the bill that passed Nov. 19, would have drawn on “parole in place” authorities to allow an estimated 6.5 million immigrants who have lived in the U.S. since January 2011 to apply for five-year work permits and relief from deportation.
Sen. Richard J. Durbin, D-Ill., said Thursday evening he was “disappointed” with the ruling, adding that “we're considering what options remain.”
Democrats and Republicans presented their opposing arguments to MacDonough at a formal meeting Dec. 1 to go over the immigration provisions. They had hoped to pass the overall bill before Christmas, but acknowledged this week that timeline would likely slide to January.
According to a copy of the guidance obtained by CQ Roll Call, MacDonough reasoned that Democrats’ proposal included policy changes that would outweigh their budgetary impact, violating the so-called "Byrd rule" for the same reasons as two prior proposals Democrats submitted that would have put millions on a path to citizenship.
“The proposed parole policy is not much different in its effect than the previous proposals we have considered,” she said. “These are substantial policy changes with lasting effects just like those we previously considered and outweigh the budgetary impact.” --->READ MORE HEREFollow links below to related stories:
Senate parliamentarian rules against immigration in $2T Biden bill
Senate parliamentarian rejects immigration reform in Democrats' spending bill
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