Feinstein: Dems could bundle DACA with Harvey relief funding

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said Tuesday that she would support passing legislation aimed at protecting certain undocumented immigrants as part of a bill to raise the debt ceiling and provide emergency relief following Hurricane Harvey.

MSNBC host Chuck Todd asked Feinstein on Tuesday afternoon whether Democrats should make the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program a part of legislation providing emergency aid for recover efforts from Harvey. 

“Well maybe, if that’s what it takes, yes,” Feinstein responded. “If we put Harvey in, we put DACA in, we pass the debt ceiling, and it’s done. That’s a way, I actually haven’t thought of that before, but I’d be for it.”

{mosads}

“And I’d be for putting it on the floor alone,” she said.

The White House has suggested pairing a Harvey relief package to a bill raising the federal debt ceiling. 

Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-Texas) vowed Tuesday to attach the debt-limit legislation to the Harvey bill the House is expected to approve Wednesday, setting up a confrontation among congressional Republicans.

President Trump has also called on Congress to pass legislation after his administration announced Tuesday it would phaseout DACA, an Obama-era program that allowed nearly 800,000 people brought to the U.S. illegally as children to obtain work permits and avoid deportation. 

Feinstein suggested resurrecting a 2013 bill that included DACA provisions.

“So that bill is available,” she said. “It can go to the floor, it can go to committee and be marked up again.”

Todd remarked that it sounded as if the 2012 Obama administration program was on “shaky legal ground.” 

“It is,” Feinstein responded, “that’s why we need to pass a law.”