Vote No on the Spending Bill Unless a Solution for Dreamers is Included
The following is a statement from Frank Sharry, Executive Director of America’s Voice, assessing the latest developments in Congress regarding the budget deal and immigration:
A moment of truth is at hand. Congress is on the verge of taking care of all sorts of business – without providing a solution for Dreamers. A spending bill that tackles a range of priorities is on the verge of enactment – without providing a solution for Dreamers. Many in Congress are congratulating themselves for achieving a bipartisan breakthrough – without providing a solution for Dreamers.
Democrats are on the verge of stepping back from a promise, while Speaker Ryan and Republican moderates have yet to step up.
Now is the time to be counted. If you believe in a solution for Dreamers, oppose any spending bill that does not include Dreamer relief. Insist that a solution be included in this must-pass spending bill. Anything less will be a vote for funds that could be used to detain and deport Dreamers at the hands of Trump’s turbocharged deportation force.
For Democrats, the seriousness of your commitment to Dreamers will be revealed by this vote.
For Republicans, including the scores who have claimed to want to resolve Dreamers’ status, now is the time for you to pick a side, take a stand and cast a meaningful vote.
Soothing words and pretty press releases are no longer good enough. America is facing a moment of moral reckoning. Do we enact a solution for Dreamers, or do we enact a budget that funds their deportation? It’s a time for choosing.
President Trump and his co-conspirators created the crisis, but it’s time for Congress to end it. Sure, Trump and his White House hardliners have destabilized the congressional debate with a proposal that is radical, racist and un-American. But Congress need not follow the lead of a nativist bent on kicking out and keeping out millions.
It’s time for the many Republicans who say they desperately want a solution to declare that this is the time and now is the moment. It’s time for Speaker Ryan to discard the non-existent “Hastert Rule” and refrain from conjuring up a newly-invented “Trump Rule,” in which only bills favored by the Great Leader get a floor vote.
As for Democrats, we have followed your lead for months. The path you set out has been clear: since Republicans need Democratic votes to approve must-pass spending bills, especially on the spending caps, your leverage will be used to include Dreamer relief. With Republicans needing your votes now, it will be a path to nowhere if you don’t stand firm.
History is watching. Real people’s lives and futures are at stake. A Day of Shame is in the offing unless members of Congress who care about Dreamers vote no on a spending caps deal without Dreamer relief. Anything less would be an abdication of your commitment to Dreamers, your commitment to the values we hold dear as Americans, and your commitment to having Congress reflect the will of the American people. Don’t let us down.
