House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said Wednesday she’s opposed to a spending deal to lift spending caps and avert a government shutdown, because the plan does not address immigration issues.
The deal, which could be officially announced in the Senate as early as Wednesday, is expected to require Democratic support to pass the House, so the House Democratic leaders comments make the plans future unclear.
Appearing on the House floor, Pelosi said she opposed that the spending deal because it doesn’t include a permanent solution for undocumented immigrants affected by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.
“This morning, we took a measure of our Caucus because the package does nothing to advance bipartisan legislation to protect Dreamers in the House,” she said in a statement, before her House speech. “Without a commitment from Speaker Ryan comparable to the commitment from Leader McConnell, this package does not have my support.”
Pelosi spoke on the House floor for more than an hour, sharing statements from DACA recipients about themselves and their successes in the US.
House Democrats will likely spend the next 24 hours pushing to get a commitment from House Speaker Paul Ryan on floor consideration of DACA bills.
At this point, Ryan has not signaled he is considering giving that to House Democrats. However, this could change pending whether the Democratic caucus is unified enough to keep him short of the 216 votes he needs, but that’s not expected to be the case at this point.
“We have to be strong as a country … to respect the aspirations of people who are our future,” Pelosi said on the House floor. “The young people are our future and these dreamers are part of that. They’ve been enriched … by the greatness of our country.”
She continued: “Our plea to the speaker is for us, for ourselves, to honor the values of our founders.”
House Speaker Paul Ryan’s spokesperson said Ryan has “repeatedly stated” he supports an immigration reform bill including DACA.
“Speaker Ryan has already repeatedly stated we intend to do a DACA and immigration reform bill — one that the President supports,” AshLee Strong said in a statement.