“It’s gamesmanship and partisanship. I gave them the answer how you solve this today," Paul said.
Sen. Rand Paul on Sunday proposed a compromise to reopen the government: promising Democrats a week of votes on immigration at the end of which there’s some resolution for the so-called “Dreamers” brought to the U. S. as children.
The Kentucky Republican said he believes the impasse that shut down the government Saturday could end if Republicans were willing to offer a series of votes on immigration, including amendments, in both chambers.
“It’s gamesmanship and partisanship. I gave them the answer how you solve this today: Promise, guarantee in writing to the Democrats that there will be one week’s debate on immigration and a vote on an immigration bill some time in the next month in the House and the Senate,” Paul said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
“Now when I presented this to those in the Senate…they were like oh, no we want guaranteed passage on a must-pass bill. Nobody gets a guaranteed passage.”
President Donald Trump repealed the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program last year, giving Congress six months to work out a deal to re-authorize the program that was established by an executive order by President Barack Obama.
The program gives those who either arrived or stayed in the U. S. illegally as children a chance to stay in the country and an opportunity to get a work permit.
Without congressional action, the program will expire March 5.
Asked what he would support on an immigration deal, Paul said limiting chain migration to the nuclear family and building “some form of wall,” though he called the $20 billion price tag on the proposed wall “outrageous.”
