House Speaker Paul Ryan said today that an amnesty for DACA recipients would not be included in the year-end spending bill that Congress must pass by Dec. 22 to avoid a government shutdown. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have been pushing for a permanent amnesty for illegal aliens who received Pres. Obama's unconstitutional DACA amnesty since the Trump Administration put it on hold back in September.

“DACA’s separate, that’s a separate issue,” Speaker Ryan told reporters.

Speaker Ryan also said that DACA would not be part of the spending bill during a Fox News Town Hall last month.

Both Speaker Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell have said that there's no rush for Congress to pass a DACA amnesty. The Trump Administration stopped approving new DACA applications on Sept. 5 and stopped processing renewals on Oct. 5, but DACA recipients won't start losing work permits or deferred action until March 5, 2018.

Despite Speaker Ryan's statements today, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said that Democrats are currently negotiating with Senate Republicans on legislation that would make “a significant investment in border security in exchange for DACA.”

For more on this story, see the Washington Times.