Pelosi: Not Leaving for Christmas Until Dreamers Protected

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi warned Thursday that Democrats will not leave Capitol Hill for the holidays until Congress agrees to protect the Dreamers program.

Pelosi said her party wants safeguards for those in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and "we will not leave here without a DACA fix," The Hill reports.

She made the remarks hours before an expected vote by the House on whether to extend government spending for two weeks to prevent a shutdown this Saturday.

Pelosi predicted that Democrats won’t give their support needed to pass the vote until the DACA is repaired and other issues are addressed in the budget.

"The reason why: Because it does nothing about the opioid epidemic; it has nothing about veterans funding; nothing about CHIP . . . nothing about the Dream Act . . . emergency disaster funding; saving some of the pensions," she said. "This is a waste of time. There could be some good things that could be advanced."

DACA was an immigration policy established by the Obama administration allowing people who entered the country as minors and remained illegally to avoid deportation and get work permits. It was rescinded by the Trump administration.

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