The Senate Parliamentarian inflicts another defeat on the Democrats.
For the third time in a row, Elizabeth MacDonough rejected a proposal by the democratic Senate Majority to include protections for undocumented immigrants in the United States in Joe Biden’s Build back better Act.
In a ruling issued Thursday, the new strongwoman of the U.S. Senate explained that the Democrats’ third proposal “is not very different in its effect from previous proposals we have considered.”
For Elizabeth MacDogough, the migration components of the Biden-Arris administration’s social safety net bill should be part of a separate policy that should not be integrated into the economic plan. “These are substantive policy changes, with lasting effects, just like the ones we have previously considered, that outweigh the budgetary impact,” she argued.
A decision that “relegates millions of people to an uncertain and frightening future,” according to a White House spokesperson, who called it a “disappointment.”
“The president, this administration, and our partners on the Hill vehemently disagree with this decision and will continue to fight to give relief and protection to the many Dreamers, (Temporary Protected Status holders), farmworkers, and essential workers who are living in fear,” the spokesperson said in a statement quoted by CNN.
The White House is not alone in its disappointment with Mrs. MacDogough’s decision. Democratic senators who worked on the majority party’s position issued a statement Thursday expressing their disagreement with the legislative director’s decision.
“[We] strongly disagree with the Senate parliamentarian’s interpretation of our immigration proposal, and we will pursue every avenue to secure a pathway to citizenship under the Build Back Better Act,” the release’s signatories lamented, adding, “The American people understand that fixing our broken immigration system is a moral and economic imperative, and we stand with the millions of immigrant families across the country who deserve better and for whom we will not stop fighting.”
Signers of the document include Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Majority Whip Dick Durbin, and Senators Bob Menendez (New Jersey), Catherine Cortez Masto (Nevada), Ben Ray Luján (New Mexico) and Alex Padilla (California), among others.
If passed, the Democrats’ proposal would allow more than 6.5 million immigrants who were in the United States before January 1, 2011, and who are in the country illegally to have strong protection.
With their fragile majority in the Senate, the Democrats would have to resort to reconciliation without the support of at least ten Republicans. This is highly unlikely given the visceral opposition of the group led by Mitch McConnell.
For the moment, Chuck Schumer’s clan has not yet given any details about its next move. However, pro-immigrant activists continue to press the majority group to ignore the decision of the “Senate parliamentarian” to offer green cards and the possibility of American citizenship to millions of undocumented immigrants in the United States. 24 hours before the decision, several dozen Haitians and other immigrant groups had marched in Washington to demand the regularization of the cases of immigrants in the United States without legal documents
It is important to remember that the decisions of the “parliamentarian of the Senate” are not binding. They can be ignored by the majority party. However, this would be the first time since 1975 when the vice president of Gerald Ford (Republican) Nelson Rockefeller, acting as president of the Senate, did not consider a decision made by the Senate parliamentarian (translated as legislative director by ZoomHaitiNews).