Update: there appears to be some post-dinner confusion, because while the top Democrats issued a statement saying there was a deal on DACA, White House press sec. Sarah Sanders said that "While DACA and border security were both discussed, excluding the wall was certainly not agreed to."
While DACA and border security were both discussed, excluding the wall was certainly not agreed to.
— Sarah Sanders (@PressSec) September 14, 2017
And then this:
WH leg affairs director Marc Short calls Dems' DACA statement "misleading," says no deal on DACA or border wall $$ was reached tonight.
— Rebecca Ballhaus (@rebeccaballhaus) September 14, 2017
yet at the same time this:
The President made clear he would continue pushing the wall, just not as part of this agreement. https://t.co/KD1SdLAnIF
— Matt House (@mattwhouse) September 14, 2017
Or, in other words, deal but no deal at the same time. Hopefully by tomorrow morning someone will know what really happened.
* * *
Shortly after concluding their dinner with president Trump at the White House, top Democrats Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi announced they have reached a deal with Donald Trump which will preserve DACA and shield about 800,000 young "Dreamers" from deportation, while agreeing to border security but without the president's proposed border wall as a condition.
Schumer and Pelosi issued the following joint statement following a dinner with President Trump in the White House:
"We had a very productive meeting at the White House with the President. The discussion focused on DACA. We agreed to enshrine the protections of DACA into law quickly, and to work out a package of border security, excluding the wall, that's acceptable to both sides.
"We also urged the President to make permanent the cost-sharing reduction payments, and those discussions will continue."
Among the other items discussed were tax reform, border security, infrastructure, trade and the DACA program, which Trump rescinded last week, but now appears to have been reincarnated.
Earlier on Wednesday evening, Paul Ryan told House Democrats Wednesday that there's no chance Republicans will pass a replacement for DACA without including border security provisions. President Trump and Ryan have both said Congress should act on DACA, the Obama-era program that allows some illegal immigrants who arrived in the U.S. as children to remain and apply for work permits, leading to some speculation that leadership would support a "clean" bill restoring those protections. Ryan made clear that's not going to happen. According to Axios, none of the Democrats pushed back against the border security proposal.
Still, there may be complications. Here are some hot takes on the "deal" from Politico's Jake Sherman:
keep in mind that Pelosi and Schumer are both in the minority and need cooperation from ryan/McConnell.
House leaves tomorrow and doesn't return till last week of the month so we'll have to see how this progresses.
This will pose challenges for ryan and McConnell. Ryan has said he would not pursue immigration legislation without majority of Rs.
There will be internal pressure for ryan and McConnell to resist turning over majority to a president who has decided to work w minority.
You have a speaker who has been under fire from the right who will now be pressured to take up a deal cut between trump and Dems.
Not passing judgement on whether this will happen. Just noting the obvious crosscurrents on the hill right now.
Big question for ryan: will 121 republicans support a deal to reinstate DACA protections w border security and no wall.
One other dynamic to keep in mind: regular order. Conservatives are obsessed w it. They'll want hearings, to feel involved. Buy in.
Assuming the answer is year, and now that Trump has fully conceded on DACA in the spirit of the "deal", the question is whether the Democrats will also do the same, and support Trump's tax reform, potentially overriding opposition from within the Republican party.