Dem whip asks Ryan to allow floor votes on DACA this week

The second-ranking House Democrat urged Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) on Tuesday to allow votes on Democratic proposals to shield young undocumented immigrants from deportation after President Trump moved to halt the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (DACA) program.

More than 900 amendments have been filed to a government spending package the House is slated to begin considering on Wednesday.

Several of those amendments were authored by Democrats to prohibit the use of funds to deport DACA recipients.

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House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) called on Ryan to allow votes on the proposals to protect DACA, along with other amendments to prohibit the Trump administration from using funds to weaken implementation of ObamaCare or undermine the Voting Rights Act.

“I hope that, in the interest of promoting the regular order you have often said you favor, you will ask the Rules Committee to make in order these sorts of amendments so that the House can work its will on these important policy matters,” Hoyer wrote in a letter.

The House Rules Committee, which acts as an arm of GOP leaders, is meeting Tuesday to decide which amendments can get floor votes.

When the House considered a national security-themed spending package in July, the Rules Committee mostly only granted votes on noncontroversial amendments.

From 2011 until last year, House GOP leaders bought annual appropriations bills to the floor under a process that allowed members of both parties to offer unlimited numbers of amendments.

But Ryan brought that practice to an end after Democrats kept offering amendments last year to ensure LGBT protections for federal contractors. Adoption of those amendments resulted in the underlying bills failing to pass due to backlash from conservatives.

Since then, lawmakers have had to submit their amendments ahead of time for Rules Committee approval. House GOP leaders have sought to avoid votes on proposals that could divide their party and prevented more controversial measures from getting floor time.

Multiple Democrats have filed amendments that would prevent the Trump administration from deporting DACA recipients, including Reps. Julia Brownley (Calif.), Adam Schiff (Calif.), Joe Crowley (N.Y.) and Gerry Connolly (Va.).

Nearly 800,000 young undocumented immigrants have been granted work permits and deferred deportations under the Obama-era program. The Department of Homeland Security is accepting renewal applications until Oct. 5 for enrollees whose eligibility will expire within the next six months, thereby allowing them to remain for up to another two years.

Democrats aren’t the only ones to submit amendments in favor of allowing young undocumented immigrants stay. Centrist Rep. Carlos Curbelo (R-Fla.) has also filed amendments that would prevent the Trump administration from changing DACA or deporting its recipients.