Congress
Democrats’ immigration debate plays out inside Hispanic Caucus
With Democrats poised to deliver an early immigration victory to President Donald Trump, members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus split over how to approach the issue in a closed-door meeting Wednesday morning.
Some discussed using Democrats’ limited political leverage under unified GOP rule: Rep. Juan Vargas (D-Calif.) floated conditioning Democratic support for a debt-limit increase on protections for Dreamers — undocumented migrants brought to the U.S. as children.
Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Linda Sánchez (D-Calif.), meanwhile, debated how to respond to hard-line Republican-led immigration bills — such as the Laken Riley Act, which has attracted Democratic support and is poised to pass Congress Wednesday. Two people familiar with the meeting were granted anonymity to describe the private conversations.
Ocasio-Cortez emphasized the need for her party to develop a winning strategy and better messaging to respond to the Republican bills and prevent swing-district lawmakers from having to break party ranks.
But Sanchez, who leads the caucus’ political arm, said progressive members’ messaging efforts weren’t working and said that Democrats were at risk of losing the larger battle over immigration policy as a result.
It was the latest manifestation of an intense debate that has racked Democrats since the 2024 elections, where many blamed immigration and border issues for swinging the presidential and congressional results to Republicans.
The Laken Riley Act was only the first of numerous tough-on-immigration bills that Republicans are likely to bring to the House floor. Dozens of Democrats have broken ranks so far, much to the dismay of many Hispanic Caucus members who are watching the party move to the center on its issue — including, they fear, its leaders.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries stopped by the Hispanic Caucus meeting, the people familiar said.
Coming out of the broader House Democratic Caucus meeting earlier in the morning, Jeffries said Democrats were “unified in the position that we want to secure the border and fix our broken immigration system in a bipartisan and comprehensive manner.”
Hispanic Caucus chair Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-N.Y.) called the meeting an “informative discussion” about members’ positions and said, “we all agree that the situation at the border needs to be stronger but that we also recognize that Dreamers, farmworkers and families must be protected.”
“We are all united on this,” he said, adding that included Jeffries.
Democratic lawmakers have broadly emphasized to leadership in the wake of the election there needs to be a cohesive message from the party on immigration. But the particulars of that has been tricky, with Republicans eager to put them on the spot by holding votes on bills that would, for instance, require the detention of many migrants accused of crimes.
Rep. Chuy García (D-Ill.) was among those calling for a more forceful response to the GOP legislation.
“I think we need to stand firm, as we’ve done on other causes in the Democratic caucus,” he said. “While we firm up a position on immigration policy in general as we plan forward, it’s important to push back on efforts like this, because if not, then you cede the ground to all kinds of other falsehoods that are to come.”
Some other lawmakers, however, said there had to be some recognition of political reality.
“I think each member has to have a response based on what’s in the best interest of their district,” said Rep. Darren Soto (D-Fla.). And he took a longer view of their response to Trump: “It’s not a sprint, it’s a two-year marathon.”
Congress
DHS stopgap set for quick House action after Rules Committee vote
The House Rules Committee advanced a measure Friday evening that would fund the entirety of the Homeland Security Department through May 22 — without setting up debate or a separate vote on the funding bill itself.
The panel, after a raucous meeting that devolved into shouting at multiple points, voted 8-4 on party lines to advance the measure to the floor.
The rule includes a “deem and pass” provision, a tactic that allows legislation to be passed by the House automatically once the rule itself is adopted. While there will be one hour of floor debate and a vote on the rule, there will not be a standalone House vote on the DHS spending bill.
Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) described himself as needing “a neck brace” from the whiplash of hearing Republicans argue for hours that the Senate’s early-morning voice vote on a different DHS funding measure was “shameful” for lack of transparency and accountability.
House Appropriations Chair Tom Cole (R-Okla.) accused the Senate of moving their bill “in the middle of the night, with the smell of jet fumes in the air,” lamenting that the House was left “to take it or leave it.”
House leaders, McGovern suggested, have chosen a similar path by fast-tracking the eight-week DHS stopgap.
“You’re in charge,” he told Rules Chair Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.). “You can do whatever the hell you want to do.”
Congress
Rand Paul weighs a 2028 presidential bid
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) is considering a bid for president in 2028, as Republicans jockey for the future of the GOP post-Trump.
In a “CBS Sunday Morning” interview airing Sunday, a reporter asked Paul about an article that implied he would be running for president.
“We’re thinking about it,” Paul said. “I would say fifty-fifty,” adding that he would make a final decision after the midterm elections.
Paul ran for the Republican nomination for president in 2016 with a libertarianism-focused campaign but ultimately dropped out after a poor performance in the Iowa caucuses and a shortage of cash. He instead ran for reelection to the Senate.
Paul has had a complex relationship with his own party and with President Donald Trump, often finding himself the lone Republican on certain issues. More recently, he was the only Republican to support a joint resolution that would limit Trump’s war powers in Iran.
His father, former Rep. Ron Paul, also ran for president three times: first as a Libertarian in 1988, and twice as a Republican in 2008 and 2012.
Congress
‘Meltdown’: DHS shutdown set to drag on after House GOP rejects Senate deal
House Republicans moved Friday to further extend the six-week shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security by rejecting a Senate bill that would fund the vast majority of DHS agencies through September.
Instead, Speaker Mike Johnson proposed a temporary extension of DHS funding through May 22 — a plan that has uncertain prospects in the House and certainly won’t pass the Senate before the shutdown becomes the longest funding lapse in U.S. history Saturday.
But Johnson said House Republicans simply could not swallow the Senate bill, which omits funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement as well as Border Patrol and some other parts of Customs and Border Protection.
“The Republicans are not going to be any part of any effort to reopen our borders or to stop immigration enforcement,” he said. “We are going to deport dangerous criminal illegal aliens because it is a basic function of the government. The Democrats fundamentally disagree.”
The move toward an eight-week stopgap creates a tactical gulf between Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, who called an end to weeks of abortive bipartisan talks Thursday and pushed through the funding bill in hopes of tacking on funding later for ICE and CBP in a party-line budget reconciliation bill.
President Donald Trump has largely stayed out of the GOP infighting on Capitol Hill, keeping his criticism trained on Democrats. He ordered DHS to pay TSA officers Thursday as long security lines snarls more U.S. airports.
Johnson played down the split with his Senate counterpart, saying the Democratic leader there bore more blame for the impasse.
“I wouldn’t call John Thune the engineer of this,” he said. “Chuck Schumer and the Democrats in the Senate have forced this upon the Senate. I have to protect the House. … Our colleagues on this side understand this is not a game. We are not playing their games.”
Thune said early Friday morning he did not speak directly to Johnson in the final hours leading up to the Senate’s voice vote, but he said they had texted. He acknowledged he did not know in advance how the House would handle the Senate bill.
“Hopefully they’ll be around, and we can get at least a lot of the government opened up again, and then we’ll go from there,” he said.
Johnson made his game plan clear with House Republicans on a private call just minutes before addressing reporters in the Capitol, according to four people granted anonymity to describe the call. He warned that a failure to advance the short-term DHS stopgap would upend GOP plans for a reconciliation bill, the people said.
He suggested the Senate could quickly clear the stopgap measure once it passes the House. Most senators have left Washington for a recess running through April 13, but Johnson said the chamber could approve the House measure by unanimous consent at a planned pro forma session Monday.
But some House Republicans on the private call, including Rep. Carlos Gimenez of Florida, aired doubts it could pass the Senate — or even the House. Some fellow GOP centrists argued that the House should just swallow the Senate bill and end the standoff.
The House plan for a 60-day stopgap won a cold reception in the Senate, with even Republicans warning it will only prolong the partial government shutdown.
The plan is instead fueling frustration among both Republicans and Democrats who view House Republicans as essentially throwing temper tantrum. Three people granted anonymity to speak candidly each described the House as having a “meltdown.”
Schumer publicly slammed the House GOP plan Friday, saying it was “dead on arrival” across the Capitol, “and Republicans know it.”
A Senate GOP aide granted anonymity to speak candidly added that the quickest way to end the shutdown is for the House to pass the Senate bill.
Five people granted anonymity to comment on Senate dynamics said there was no possibility that Democrats would let the House GOP plan pass during the Senate’s brief pro forma sessions over the next two weeks. It would only take one Democratic senator to show up and object to any attempt to pass it.
The bill, according to the five people, also can’t get 60 votes in the Senate once the chamber returns. Democrats have previously rejected even shorter stopgaps, leaving some to privately question why House Republicans would ever think their plan would work.
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