Watch: Dem rep to press Schumer to add DREAM Act to must-pass bills

A key Democratic lawmaker tells The Hill that leaders of the Congressional Tri-Caucus will press Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) to add the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act to must-pass bills in the upper chamber. 

“I want to make sure we go to the mat on all those kinds of actions we can take — which is the discharge petition, which is attaching the DREAM bill to any must-pass bill in the Senate … like the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) or the children’s health bill,” Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC) chairwoman Rep. Judy Chu (D-Calif.) said in an interview with The Hill.

Chu revealed that leaders in the Tri-Caucus — which includes CAPAC, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and the Congressional Black Caucus — will make that case during a meeting Schumer on Wednesday.

{mosads}Barring those efforts to attach the DREAM Act to must-pass legislation, Democratic and GOP lawmakers agree that an effort to address immigration after President Trump withdrew the Deferred Action for Child Arrivals (DACA) proposal likely will have to be bipartisan.

Rep. Tom Reed (R-N.Y.) head of the bipartisan Congressional Problem Solvers Caucus, said his group views it as a key issue to tackle.

“One of things that naturally came to top of the list of our working group level is a DACA/immigration fix when comes to not only the DACA situation — border security and also agricultural pursuits making sure they have access to that workforce they need to keep their businesses afloat,” Reed said. 

California Rep. Eric Swalwell (D), however, doubts the Republicans have enough direction to feel confident in making a deal that Trump will sign. 

“What incentive do they have if they don’t even know if he’s going to sign it? … I’m afraid this issue, when it comes to House Republicans and Senate Republicans, is rudderless,” Swalwell told The Hill. 

Asked to respond to former White House chief strategist Stephen Bannon’s assertion that the DACA issue could cost Republicans control of the House, Chu would only say that Bannon is “correct … that this will be will a cause of tremendous conflict,” among the GOP.