DREAM Act Portal Forum - McConnell’s immigration gamble

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Mitch McConnell is taking the reins of an immigration debate that may prompt a fix for “Dreamers” — or quickly spiral out of control.

Usually careful with his every move, the Senate majority leader is taking a gamble this week with his pledge for a free-for-all debate over the fate of hundreds of thousands of young undocumented immigrants.

No one knows the GOP leader’s endgame, nor how he personally prefers the stalemate over Dreamers to be resolved. It’s highly unusual for a Senate majority leader, particularly one as calculating as McConnell, to bring a divisive issue to the floor with no clearly intended result in sight.

Even his top lieutenants aren’t sure whether McConnell would ultimately support a final immigration deal that can clinch the 60 votes needed to clear the Senate.

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“Mitch is ambivalent,” said a Republican senator. The White House has no idea what he is going to do, according to a senior administration official.

What is clear is that the Kentucky Republican’s pledge of unlimited amendments could open up vulnerable senators in both parties to politically tough votes on a range of contentious issues — from beefed-up enforcement to a pathway to citizenship. And despite allies’ claims that McConnell wants to get the issue off the Senate’s plate, there’s no guarantee his promise for a freewheeling immigration debate will yield a new law.

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But McConnell does want strong GOP backing for any final bill and will be loath to pass anything that can’t get at least 30 Senate Republicans in support, according to two Republican senators. That might go a long way toward insulating his party from conservative criticism, as well as winning over President Donald Trump and House Republicans.

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“This is something that Mitch has been loath to address. We know that,” Flake said.

Immigration hasn’t been a signature issue for McConnell, who is known as a strategist more than a policy maven. And while he’s conservative, he can be ideologically flexible when he believes it’s to his party’s benefit.

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“Sen. McConnell made it clear over and over on the floor that he wanted to put this off. He said as much: ‘We have plenty of time, March 5 is the deadline,’” Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said. “We disagreed with him, told him about the anguish these young people faced if we didn’t move, and move quickly.”

Durbin added, however: “But in fairness to Sen. McConnell, he has said publicly and privately in ways that I believe that we are now going to have an honest debate.”

One matter that may linger on McConnell’s mind as he approaches the debate? His own political future. He’s gearing up to run for reelection in 2020, and his conservative state lacks a large number of Latinos.

Other Republicans say DACA simply isn’t a major issue in the Bluegrass State, perhaps removing a sense of urgency for McConnell. It “really doesn’t register with most people,” said Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.).

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/...gration-401209