The Undersecretary for FPAC oversees three USDA agencies: the Farm Service Agency, Natural Resources Conservation Service, and the Risk Management Agency.

Washington Insider: Pushback on Dreamer Termination

Bloomberg is reporting this week that the President’s decision to end the program preventing the deportation of immigrants illegally brought to the U.S. as children “risks a deep wedge between the Republican Party’s leaders and its conservative base ahead of next year’s congressional elections.”

In announcing an end to the program in the next six months, Trump called on Congress to pass legislation to codify the protections the previous administration created for about 800,000 people, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals.

However, the decision apparently went against the advice of senior party leaders like Senator Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, who said in a statement that he called Trump last week to urge him to preserve the program. In addition, the administration apparently did not “consult much with business leaders or allies outside the White House,” Bloomberg said.

Bloomberg suggests that the decision adds significantly to the already crowded fall agenda and could create a new pressure point in the form of a sharp backlash over the decision by Democrats and some Republicans. The President did tweet on Tuesday that he may be open to reversing course but offered no details to back it up, Bloomberg said.

For some Republicans up for re-election next year, such as Senators Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., and Dean Heller, R-Nev., DACA is a minefield to navigate. Immigration hardliners on the right will have great influence in Republican primary elections, while more moderate voters will be key in their contests with Democratic opponents, said Jennifer Duffy, Senate editor of the non-partisan Cook Political Report. “Democrats would love to have this issue alive and well in the primary season,” she said.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said that if DACA legislation isn’t approved in September, lawmakers from his party are likely to try to attach it to other measures.

“I am confident that if put on the floor, it will garner overwhelming support,” Schumer told reporters Monday.

“From a Republican party point of view, this is a defining moment,” Senator Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said Tuesday at a news conference with the Senate’s No. 2 Democrat, Dick Durbin, D-Ill., to urge passage of legislation protecting immigrants in the DACA program.

By contrast, Representative Steve King, R-Iowa, who urged Trump over the weekend to end the program outright, said that a delay to let Republican leadership develop legislation codifying the protections, which he considers “amnesty,” would be “Republican suicide.”

“I think this is more emotional than Obamacare, and I think this is difficult,” said Alice Stewart, a Republican communications consultant who worked on Senator Ted Cruz’s, R-Texas, presidential bid. “I have seen more heated arguments over immigration reform than Obamacare.”

The Republican Party has struggled to improve its appeal with Latino voters, even though there has been little change in policy. But among much of Trump’s base, any such legislation is derided as “amnesty” for people who have violated U.S. law, and the lawmakers who support it are likely to be opposed by those voters, Bloomberg said.

Although the President has laid out a deadline for the program, House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and other Republican leaders haven’t indicated when or how they’ll consider legislation to preserve it. Ryan said in a statement that he hopes Congress will pass a bill that "includes ensuring that those who have done nothing wrong can still contribute as a valued part of this great country."

The Senate Republican leader, Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., was even less committal. “This Congress will continue working on securing our border and ensuring a lawful system of immigration that works,” he said in a statement.

A number of vulnerable Republican senators and House members could see their 2018 re-election campaigns threatened by a protracted congressional debate over DACA.

Flake and Heller, the two Senate Republicans most at risk of losing their seats, both have sizable Latino populations in their states and support preserving DACA’s protections. Republican House members with similar demographics in their districts have taken the same position, including Mike Coffman, R-Colo., Jeff Denham, R-Calif., and Carlos Curbelo, R-Fla.

Flake and Heller both face Republican primary opponents who are sticking close to Trump on immigration issues.

It is too early to attempt to assess the impact of the “dreamer” debate on the President’s agenda, but the addition of yet another bitter fight to the battles over trade, tax reform, health care, the budget and others likely is not good news for agriculture, especially just ahead of the coming farm bill debate. Certainly, this is another powerful issue that should be watched closely by producers as it unfolds, Washington Insider believes.

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