Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) called Wednesday for Congressional Republicans to stand up to President Trump's decision to terminate the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program | Luis Magana/AP Photo Fiscal deal sets up tough DACA choice for Democrats Some House Democrats believed that this month was the best time to force Republicans to act.

The short-term fiscal deal that President Donald Trump agreed to on Wednesday tees up a tough choice for the Democrats who triumphantly negotiated it: whether to risk a government shutdown later this year to win relief for Dreamers.

Before Democratic leaders won shocking buy-in from Trump for their pitch to raise the debt limit and keep the government open until mid-December, the party was in the early throes of an internal debate over immigration.


Democrats all want to help the so-called Dreamers, nearly 800,000 undocumented immigrants who could be forced to leave by the Trump administration as soon as next year — but they have yet to commit to using their leverage to force a vote from the GOP on a revival of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) declared before reaching Wednesday's deal with Trump that if Republican leaders don’t allow a vote this month on a bill that would enshrine DACA protections into law, “we are prepared to attach it to other items this fall until it passes.”

But Schumer stopped short of vowing to withhold Democratic votes for must-pass bills that Congress is expected to consider this fall.

After Trump and Democrats reached the agreement that tees up a massive Dec. 15 deadline to tackle government funding and the debt limit, Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) suggested that legislation helping Dreamers would be a central part of year-end negotiations on Capitol Hill.

"If we don’t find a must-pass bill and successfully amend it with the DREAM Act" before December, Durbin said, "we’ve got to hold out the possibility that the final [continuing resolution], the final omnibus bill which has the debt ceiling in it, needs to have this in it as well."

Still, any potential trade-off with Republicans over protection for Dreamers risks dealing a fresh disappointment to immigrant-rights activists who were already walloped by Trump's Tuesday decision to rescind DACA in six months if Congress does not act.

Some lawmakers and pro-Dreamer activists were frustrated at Democratic leaders on Wednesday, lamenting that the party had ceded ground to the GOP by agreeing to a short-term funding package that allows more time to cut a broader immigration deal.

“Democrats just don’t seem to want to use their leverage to protect the Dreamers,” said Rep. Luis Gutiérrez (D-Ill.), an outspoken member of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.

Gutierrez had called for Democrats to use their leverage to help Dreamers this month during a private Democratic Caucus meeting Wednesday morning before the White House confab.

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“At what point do Democrats say no more?” a frustrated Gutierrez told reporters in the Speaker’s Lobby Wednesday afternoon. “Right now there are many Democrats who feel we gave up, not just me.”

Angel Padilla, policy director at the liberal group Indivisible, called the Democratic-backed deal "a slap in the face" to Dreamers.

"The idea that we are going to get a bipartisan approach is a fallacy, it's a lie," Padilla said in an interview. "This is all Democrats trying to score political points for 2018 while sacrificing something they could do now for Dreamers."

Democratic aides insist they haven’t given up on DACA, even floating the idea that lawmakers may try to attach a fix to other must-pass bills that crop up before December, including possibly another round of Harvey disaster aid.

And, aides say, Democrats have a much more cohesive strategy now after key House Democrats huddled Tuesday night and Wednesday afternoon on DACA. Democrats are now focused on pushing the bipartisan Dream Act, as opposed to some of the other immigration bills floating around.

But some Democrats, including Gutiérrez, says their leaders are passing up their best opportunity to codify DACA – and leaving the lives of nearly 800,000 Dreamers hanging in the balance.

“The Democratic Party has to stand for something. And today it lost an opportunity to stand with them,” Gutiérrez said.

Gutiérrez (D-Ill.) stood up during House Democrats’ weekly caucus meeting Wednesday to give a rousing speech about how now is the time for Democrats to take a stand on DACA, saying lawmakers need to lay out a clear line in the sand for Republicans.

House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) then suggested Democrats withhold their votes for a short-term funding bill later this month if there isn’t a clear path forward to addressing DACA. Both Gutiérrez and Hoyer received standing ovations, according to multiple sources in the room.

But the idea of blocking a budget deal and threatening a government shutdown was never the official caucus position. And it's unclear whether Democrats would vote as a bloc against this week's short-term deal, or any fiscal package that comes up in December, without help for Dreamers.

Either way, the threat could have forced House Republican leaders to round up additional votes on their side to ensure the government stays open beyond Sept. 30 — until Trump made his surprising decision to side with Democrats on a deal until December.

Hoyer demurred when asked Wednesday whether Democrats would withhold their votes on a government funding bill to secure a vote on helping the Dreamers. "Let's see what happens," he said.

Indivisible had pressed Democrats to insist on adding protection for Dreamers to a Hurricane Harvey aid package that's expected to get to Trump's desk by the weekend. But Republicans flatly ruled out that approach, and Democratic leaders were not behind it.

"I’m not going to hold disaster aid hostage for passage of the DREAM Act, and I believe it would not be in our best interest," Durbin said Wednesday.

Even so, liberal groups are prodding Democrats to back up their rhetorical support for fixing DACA with action. Gutierrez is expected to appear alongside Indivisible and United We Dream at a Thursday event aimed at pressuring both Trump and Democrats to act.

“How do we arrive at this conclusion? The Democratic Party should be about discussion, debate and talking to one another. There was none,” Gutiérrez said.