Nadeam Elshami is executive vice president at Signal Group, a bipartisan government relations and strategic communications firm in Washington, D.C. He was chief of staff for House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi and a 25-year veteran of Capitol Hill. The views expressed in this commentary are his own.

(CNN) As they begin their retreat on Wednesday, a day before government funding expires, House Democrats are considering their options on the federal budget deal.

Do they give their support, given that there is increased funding for domestic issues like education and veterans affairs -- a major victory considering Republicans ordinarily want to cut federal spending? Or, do they oppose it until Speaker of the House Paul Ryan provides a guarantee for an open debate on the state of the Dreamers?

Nadeam Elshami

In an unusual and somewhat unprecedented move, Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi took to the House floor on Wednesday for more than eight hours to read the stories of several Dreamers facing uncertainty about their futures. In other words, she highlighted how important the issue is to the Democratic Party.

At any other time, House Democrats would have taken a domestic spending victory and moved on. But for some, Congress not addressing the Dreamers for a second time in a funding bill, even one which includes some of their spending priorities, is giving them a pause.

I believe passing this bill -- to include domestic spending on issues Democrats care about -- and taking a government shutdown off the table will put the focus back squarely on the Dreamers. But it may require Ryan to give the same guarantee that Senator Majority Leader Mitch McConnell gave to the Senate Democrats: an open debate on legislation dealing with the Dreamers.

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