Yeah, there's always a "but."
Senate Democrats are willing to drop their demand that relief for Dreamers be tied to any long-term budget agreement ‐ a potential boost for spending talks, but which could face opposition from their House counterparts.
The shift comes in response to the deal struck between Senate leaders Monday to reopen the government and begin debate on an immigration bill next month. Meanwhile, budget negotiators are expressing optimism that a two-year agreement to lift stiff caps on defense and domestic spending is increasingly within reach.
"We’re viewing [immigration and spending] on separate terms because they are on separate paths," Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said Tuesday.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s "procedural concession means we’ve got a deadline and a process," Durbin added. "That to me is a significant step forward. It’s not everything I wanted, that’s for sure, but it’s a step forward."
But House Democrats have signaled they are not ready to go along with a long-term budget deal without a fix to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program that President Donald Trump is ending.
Continues.