White House chief of staff John Kelly said Tuesday that President Trump is not expected to extend the March 5 date by which he wants Congress to pass legislation to protect hundreds of thousands of people that sought protection under former President Barack Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.
“I doubt very much” Trump would extend that date, Kelly told reporters, according to the Washington Post.
Kelly also told reporters at the Capitol that he was unsure “if this president has the authority to extend” the date because the program was not based in law and was created on illegal grounds under the Obama administration. – READ MORE
[give_form id=”79809″] [divider][/divider]White House Chief of Staff John Kelly said Tuesday that many people eligible who were eligible for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program may have chosen not to sign up because they are “too lazy to get off their ass.”
Kelly made the remark on Capitol Hill days ahead of Congress’ first government funding deadline since last month’s partial government shutdown, which centered on extending the program.
President Trump said he will support making the program permanent only if lawmakers agree to border wall funding and restrictions on legal immigration.
Kelly, speaking to reporters, addressed why Trump would support a pathway to citizenship for 1.8 million people, rather than the smaller subset currently protected by DACA.
“There are 690,000 official DACA registrants and the president sent over what amounts to be two-and-a-half times that number, to 1.8 million,” Kelly said, reported Erica Werner of the Washington Post. “The difference between 690 [thousand] and 1.8 million were the people that some would say were too afraid to sign up, others would say were too lazy to get off their asses, but they didn’t sign up.” – READ MORE
[give_form id=”79809″] [divider][/divider]Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) admitted to CNN on Monday that it was a “mistake” to try to attach a fix for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program onto the funding legislation for the government, which ultimately led to a three-day shutdown.
Congress is once again facing the possibility of the government shutting down, as the continuing resolution that was passed in January is set to expire at the end of the week.
When asked if he was willing to support another continuing resolution, as opposed to allowing the government to shut down again, Connolly said he would vote to keep the government open. – READ MORE
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