The Democrats’ massive $3.5 trillion budget reconciliation bill includes multiple programs that are hard to justify as “budgetary” items. Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough handed the Democrats a significant loss on their attempt to slip in a grant of amnesty for millions of illegal aliens.
MacDonough ruled on Sunday that the proposed amnesty cannot be adequately included in a budget reconciliation bill. Democrats desperately needed the plan to be included because the budget reconciliation process allows them to bypass the Senate’s filibuster rule.
Reconciliation bills can move forward with a simple majority vote in the Senate. The Democrats can pull off with all 50 Democratic senators and the tie-breaking vote of Vice President Kamala Harris. With the amnesty plan being considered as ordinary legislation, at least 60 “yes” votes would be needed to proceed past a Republican filibuster in the Senate.
In ruling that amnesty cannot be included as a budget item, MacDonough wrote that changing federal law to allow a change for illegals to lawful permanent resident (LPR) status is a “tremendous and enduring” change that “dwarfs” its impact on the budget.
New – Senate parl ruling on immigration that appears to close the door on including a pathway to green cards in the reconciliation bill. Key line: “Changing the law to clear the way to LPR status is tremendous and enduring policy change that dwarfs its budgetary impact.” pic.twitter.com/KOYdrKtcsB
— Seung Min Kim (@seungminkim) September 20, 2021
The Democratic plan had been to provide amnesty, and LPR status for all illegals enrolled in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, employed as agricultural workers, classified with Temporary Protected Status (TPS), or deemed under the law as “essential workers.”
MacDonough heard arguments last week from Democrats regarding including amnesty in a budget reconciliation bill. President Biden also made public statements last week pointed at the Parliamentarian. Biden said he strongly supports giving the proposed groups of illegal aliens the “long-awaited pathway to citizenship they deserve.”
The proposed amnesty would have given a massive shift of wealth to Democrat-controlled coastal states and cities through a flood of legalized foreign workers. Immigration already places substantial downward pressure on wages in the U.S. and shifts hundreds of billions of dollars from working- and middle-class Americans to corporate employers and immigrants.
Current immigration statistics indicate that 1.2 million legal immigrants are granted permanent resident status each year, with 1.4 million visas issued to foreign workers who want to get employment inside the country. The number of illegal aliens crossing into the U.S. each year numbers in the hundreds of thousands and has increased steadily in 2021.
