Democrats are looking to use the upcoming spending deadline as an opportunity to lay out their demands, including the passage of the Dream Act to protect undocumented immigrants, The Hill reports.
Congressional leaders from both parties were set to meet Wednesday with White House officials in an attempt to hammer out a budget deal, as another deadline to avoid a government shutdown approaches in a little over two weeks.
But House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, in a "Dear Colleague" letter sent Tuesday, said Democrats were "focused on fulfilling the many long-overdue, bipartisan priorities facing the American people."
"We are firmly committed to swiftly passing the DREAM Act, which we know would pass with bipartisan support if brought to the Floor," she said.
The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, allowed people who illegally came to the United States as children with their parents to stay if they met certain criteria. Attorney General Jeff Sessions in early September announced that President Donald Trump was ending DACA and giving a gridlocked Congress until March 2018 to decide what happens to the 800,000-plus young people affected.
Trump has tied protection for Dreamers to his own demands, telling The New York Times last week that there would be no DACA plan "without a wall. Because we need it. We see the drugs pouring into the country, I wouldn't do a DACA plan without a wall."
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