Luminesa wrote:[
Honestly, Biden needs to write a, “No,” spelled with an executive order for Manchin to shut up. Knowing that one of the Senators pushing for Pelosi to hold the vote now is one of mine (probably), I’m hoping we can actually get some sort of legislation going soon. Progressives need to stop playing this “Bachlorette-will-they-won’t-they” game and vote.
so this is, from the progressive standpoint, a bad idea (also that's not how the house works, there are no progressives on the rules committee)
their only leverage for us to get the social care bill (which also has all the climate change provisions) is by not voting for the infrastructure bill until after reconciliation gets passed
manchin, knowing this, wants the social care bill to be delayed until afer the infrastructure bill passes so that he can just kill the social care one without losing anything
he is, in essence, a colossal dumbass
It's not even been 24 hours and Manchin's already got competition for his award, the entirely unelected and aconstitutional senate parliamentarian
The arbiter of Senate procedural rules said Sunday that Democrats’ plan to provide a pathway to citizenship for millions of immigrants living in the country illegally couldn’t be included in a wide-ranging $3.5 trillion proposal expanding the safety net and responding to climate change. The decision from the office of Senate parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough said that the plan to legalize a group including young immigrants, farmworkers, essential workers and those living in the U.S. on humanitarian grounds didn’t comply with the chamber’s rules.
The finding marks a setback for Democrats, who are advancing their sweeping legislation through a procedure that requires only a simple majority, rather than the 60 votes required to advance most legislation and overcome a filibuster. No Republicans are expected to support the Democrats’ proposal, and Vice President Kamala Harris would break any tie in the 50-50 Senate.
To qualify for inclusion in legislation advanced through the process, known as budget reconciliation, any change must have a significant impact on the federal budget that is more than incidental to the policy change being sought.
In the findings, the parliamentarian’s office said granting legal status to immigrants would mark “a policy change that substantially outweighs the budgetary impact of that change.”
Democrats were hoping to include the immigration measure in the broader bill in the hope of creating a path to citizenship for immigrants in the country illegally, including so-called dreamers, who were brought to the country as children. Democrats are still likely to float alternate changes to immigration law past the parliamentarian, including updating a law known as the registry, which would allow anyone present in the country earlier than a certain date to become a legal permanent resident.
“We are deeply disappointed in this decision but the fight to provide lawful status for immigrants in budget reconciliation continues,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) in a statement. He said Senate Democrats have prepared alternate proposals and plan to hold additional meetings with the parliamentarian.
Still, the ruling signals Ms. MacDonough is likely to come down against any broad measure offering green cards to immigrants who currently aren’t eligible for them.
“Changing the law to clear the way to [lawful permanent resident] status is tremendous and enduring policy change that dwarfs its budgetary impact,” the ruling states. The ruling notes that if creating a path to citizenship through a simple majority vote were to be allowed, it would become just as easy for a future Congress to repeal that path through a simple-majority vote as well.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.), the top Republican on the Senate Budget Committee, applauded the decision.
“The parliamentarian’s guidance reinforces long held traditions of the Senate that major policy changes should be done collaboratively and not through the reconciliation process,” he said in a statement.
Under the chamber’s rules, the presiding officer of the Senate—in this case Ms. Harris—can disregard the parliamentarian’s advice. Such a step would likely give both parties more license to ignore the parliamentarian in future fights, and they have abided by the parliamentarian’s rulings in recent disputes. Earlier this year, Democrats abided by the parliamentarian’s ruling that excluded a provision raising the minimum wage in a previous reconciliation package.
Many Democrats have also argued that Senate Democrats should get rid of the filibuster rule altogether, and let all legislation advance with a simple majority. Proponents say this would allow the party to pass bills on contentious issues including immigration and election rules. But several Democratic senators have objected to such a move, blocking any change for now.
The stakes have risen for the young immigrants known as Dreamers after a federal judge in Texas ruled this summer that the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which provides many of them temporary deportation protections, is illegal.
In that suit, brought by Texas and other Republican-led states, U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen ruled the program amounted to presidential overreach because Congress never gave the executive branch the power to grant mass reprieves from immigration enforcement. His ruling barred the Biden administration from approving new DACA applications but stayed the immediate effect of his ruling on current DACA recipients.
Supporters of Dreamers in both parties are fearful that, should the case reach the Supreme Court, the conservative majority could end the program altogether and strip protections away.
Immigration advocates expressed disappointment at the ruling, but they said it doesn’t entirely foreclose the options for Democrats.
For months, advocacy groups have worked with Congressional staffers to draw up alternate proposals that make smaller tweaks to immigration law, should the parliamentarian rule as she did.
“There are other ways to get this done, there are other options that are still on the table, so we are still hopeful,” said Sergio Gonzales, executive director of the Immigration Hub, an advocacy group whose previous leader is now President Biden’s top immigration adviser.
byrd's ghost in collaboration with an omnipotent rules goblin is going to make for a very depressing budget
