President Joe Biden tried to escape a rough few weeks with a brief trip to his beach vacation house in Delaware.
After confirming a U.S. drone strike killed a family of seven innocent people in Afghanistan, having his vaccination plans rebuffed by the Food and Drug Administration, and watching his poll numbers crater, it’s no surprise Biden needed some time away from Washington, D.C.
His weekend wasn’t any better, however.
On Sunday, political analysts normally backing the Democratic Party turned on Biden. NBC News star Chuck Todd told viewers that Biden had a “big credibility problem” over recent missteps.
That same day, Sen. Kristen Sinema (D-A.Z.) issued an ultimatum to Biden that threatens to derail the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill that’s waiting for the House of Representatives’ approval.
It’s a series of crushing blows to the 46th president no ice cream or beach time could heal.
Then came the biggest blow: Biden found out that Democrats won’t be able to use their $3.5 trillion spending package to give millions of illegal immigrants a chance to become citizens.
The decision by Elizabeth MacDonough, the Senate’s nonpartisan interpreter of its often enigmatic rules, on the pathway from illegalized immigration to citizenship, was a damaging and disheartening setback for Democrats.
Though they said they’d offer her fresh alternatives, MacDonough’s stance badly wounds their hopes of unilaterally enacting — over Republican opposition — changes letting several categories of immigrants gain permanent residence and possibly citizenship.
The parliamentarian opinion is crucial because it means the immigration provisions could not be included in an immense $3.5 trillion measure that would be shielded from GOP filibusters. Left vulnerable to those bill-killing delays, which require 60 Senate votes to defuse, the immigration language has virtually no chance in the 50-50 Senate.
In a three-page memo to senators obtained by The Associated Press, MacDonough noted that under Senate rules, provisions are not allowed in such bills if their budget effect is “merely incidental” to their overall policy impact.
Citing sweeping changes that Democrats would make in illegal immigrants’ lives, MacDonough, a one-time immigration attorney, said the language “is by any standard a broad, new immigration policy.”
The rejected provisions would open multiyear doorways to legal permanent residence — and perhaps citizenship — for young people brought illegally to the country as children, often called “Dreamers.” Also included would be immigrants with Temporary Protected Status who’ve fled countries stricken by natural disasters or extreme violence; essential workers, and farm workers.
Estimates vary because many people can be in more than one category, but the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office says 8 million people would be helped by the Democratic effort, MacDonough said. Biden had originally proposed a broader drive that would have affected 11 million illegals.
Democrats and their pro-immigration allies have said they will offer alternative approaches to MacDonough that would open a doorway to permanent status to at least some immigrants.
“We are deeply disappointed in this decision but the fight to provide lawful status for immigrants in budget reconciliation continues,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said in a written statement. “Senate Democrats have prepared alternate proposals and will be holding additional meetings with the Senate parliamentarian in the coming days.”
The parliamentarian’s ruling was riling far-left progressives at a time when Democratic leaders will need virtually every vote in Congress from their party to approve a massive 10-year, $3.5 trillion spending bill that embodies Biden’s top domestic goals.
It also comes with Republicans already signaling that they will use illegal immigration, linking it to fears of rising crime, as a top issue in next year’s campaigns for control of the House and Senate. The issue has gained attention in a year when huge numbers of illegal immigrants have been encountered trying to cross the Southwest border.
“Democratic leaders refused to resist their progressive base and stand up for the rule of law, even though our border has never been less secure,” said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. He said putting the provisions into filibuster-protected budget measure was “inappropriate and I’m glad it failed.”
In fact, both parties have stretched the use of the special budget protections over the years. Democrats used them to enact President Barack Obama’s 2010 health care law, and Republicans used them during their failed 2017 drive to repeal that statute.
“It would have led to an increased run on the border — beyond the chaos we already have there today,” said the Senate Budget Committee’s top Republican, South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham.
One alternative advocates have said they’re exploring would be to update a “registry” date that allows some illegal immigrants in the U.S. by that time to become permanent residents if they meet certain conditions. But it was unclear if they would pursue that option or how the parliamentarian would rule.
White House spokesperson Vedant Patel called the parliamentarian’s decision disappointing but said senators would offer new immigration ideas.
MacDonough cited a CBO estimate that Democrats’ proposals would increase federal deficits by $140 billion over the coming decade. That is largely because of the welfare benefits the illegal immigrants would qualify for.
But that fiscal impact, wrote MacDonough, was overshadowed by improvements the Democratic effort would make for immigrants’ lives.
Democrats and a handful of GOP allies have made halting progress during the past two decades toward legislation that would help millions of immigrants gain permanent legal status in the U.S. Ultimately, they’ve been thwarted each time by broad Republican opposition.
The House has approved separate bills this year achieving much of that, but the measures have gone nowhere in the Senate because of Republican filibusters.
The massive $3.5 trillion spending bill would boost welfare, environmental protection, and other programs and largely finance the initiatives with large tax hikes.
Progressive and moderate Democrats are battling over the measure’s price tag and details. Party leaders can’t lose any Democratic votes in the 50-50 Senate and can lose no more than three in the House.
MacDonough was appointed in 2012 when Democrats controlled the chamber and is respected as an even-handed arbiter of Senate rules.
Earlier this year, one of her rulings forced Democrats to remove a minimum wage increase from a COVID-19 relief bill, killing another top progressive priority.
The Associated Press contributed to this article