In my last post, I noted the inability of the Trump administration and Congress to agree on changes to the nation’s immigration laws.
One of four measures – which came closest to passages failed by seven votes in the Senate last Thursday – would have protected hundreds of thousands of young immigrants (a priority of Democrats and some Republicans), provided funds to bolster security along the border with Mexico (a priority of the president), and curbed family-based migration (but not to the extent sought by the administration).
Now thanks to the Washington Post, we know that the administration “worked frantically into the night” to defeat the bill. “We’re going to bury it,” a senior administration official told a reporter on Wednesday night.
According to the Post:
“The assault was relentless — a flurry of attacks on the bill from DHS officials and the Justice Department, and a veto threat from the White House — and hours later, the measure died on the Senate floor.
The Trump administration’s extraordinary 11th-hour strategy to sabotage the bill showed how, after weeks of intense bipartisan negotiations on Capitol Hill, it was the White House that emerged as a key obstacle preventing a deal to help the dreamers.”
The attack on the measure killed what might have been a path to a deal that would have provided relief for so-called Dreamers and a wall along the border that the president has championed.
Meanwhile, a measure backed by the White House that would have slashed legal immigration garnered just 39 votes in the Senate. “That’s a telling total, one that mirrors the percentage of Americans who still support [the president],” the Post editorialized. “Of the four immigration measures voted on in the Senate last week, the Trump bill had the least support.”