Axios Scoop: Biden administration plotting immigration reform in 2023

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Quote:

Axios
6 hours ago - Politics & Policy
Scoop: Biden's inflation-immigration pitch

The Biden administration is plotting to make a fresh push on immigration reform in the new year, looking for ways to provide legal status for so-called "Dreamers" and increase the labor supply to help lower inflation, according to people familiar with the matter.

Why it matters: Biden’s political advisers know the situation at the border — with up to 14,000 migrants expected to be crossing every day if Title 42 ends — presents an urgent humanitarian emergency and a long-term political dilemma.

At the same time, top economic aides are concerned that the lack of immigrant workers is leading to labor shortages, which will continue to keep inflation high.
But finding a legislative compromise that’s acceptable to the GOP-controlled House, as well as the president’s progressive base, will be a massive challenge. Biden officials are willing to try.
What they're saying: Immigration reform is "harder in the divided Congress, but it's so clearly necessary in light of what we're seeing in the job market," Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo told Axios.

“The thing that's underpinning inflation still — that’s driving inflation still — is this tight labor market,” she said.
"Immigration is a lever,” she stressed. "We're down a million immigrants a year. That's a workforce that we need."
What we're watching: The president, like the rest of Washington, doesn’t know who the next speaker of the House will be — and how much space he or she will have to maneuver on immigration or any other legislation.

Leading up to next year’s State of the Union, Biden officials will continue to mill and refine the president's 2023 agenda, considering what's legislatively possible and what they need to include to please their progressive base.
By the numbers: Inflation has cooled from its June high of 9.1%, with the Consumer Price Index reading 7.1% in November.

Job growth continues to be robust, with employers adding 263,000 jobs last month.
But wage growth has also accelerated: Average hourly earnings for private-sector workers were up 0.6% in November, translating to a 5.8% annual rate over the past three months. That will make the Fed's job of taming inflation more difficult.
The big picture: The contours of a grand immigration bargain have been in view for several years, but only if you squint.

Republicans would receive increased funding for border security; Democrats would win permanent protection for the roughly 2 million undocumented migrants who were brought here as minors, and the business and agricultural communities would get more visas for high- and low-skilled workers.

An actual political compromise has been maddeningly difficult.
The most recent bipartisan effort by Sens. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) and Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.) foundered late in the legislative cycle, after some hope that their framework could find 60 votes in the Senate and pass the House while Democrats still controlled it.
Go deeper: Biden outlined his plan to modernize the immigration system on the first day of his presidency and has continued to call it a priority.

Asked about the prospects for immigration reform in the new Congress, Jared Bernstein, a member of the Council of Economic Advisers, told CNBC that "the legislative agenda can always surprise you.”
“And President Joe Biden is pretty masterful at pulling legislative rabbits out of hats,” he added. "So I wouldn't count anything out."
Between the lines: The White House also wants to increase the labor supply by convincing Congress to provide billions in new programs for elder and child care, two planks of Biden's Build Back Better agenda that were knocked out by Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.).

In addition, the administration is seeking to expand the workforce by helping younger Americans learn skilled labor and enabling older workers to retrain in new fields.

https://www.axios.com/2022/12/21/bid...form-inflation

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While my expectations are much lower for anything happening in 2023, this will no doubt be very interesting to watch and the outcome could surprise us. The Biden admin should be coming out officially with some border security + legalization bill and call on Republicans to support it. This way we can have them on record for being hypocrites when they vote no.

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For what's worth, try texting president Biden at his community outreach number (302) 404-0880 and let him know we need to push for legalization for dreamers in 2023.

It would be +1 voice/data point for immigration reform in his list of issues to tackle.

Transcend · Transcend

This is from a different article with Sen. Sinema saying there will be immigration discussions in January.

"Despite bipartisan support for the framework agreement, Sinema and Tillis ran out of time to collect the support from the 60 senators needed to pass the bill. Instead, lawmakers will spend the final few days of the current legislative session trying to avoid a government shutdown and pass a budget.

In her remarks, Sinema expressed her disappointment at ending the session without a deal, saying lawmakers from both parties chose to "retreat to its partisan corners" rather than to familiarize themselves with the issues along the U.S.-Mexico border and taking action to solve them.

"That's why when we come back to Congress in January, one of the first things I'll do with Senator Tillis is convene a bipartisan group of senators who are willing and committed to get something done," Sinema said. "We're going to bring them to the border. We're going to see what Arizonans see every single day, because a crisis this big should not and cannot be ignored."

https://www.azcentral.com/story/news...m/69745442007/

jorgeag92 · jorgeag92

They won't do anything, but discuss. Congress only works after shit hits the fan. In this case it would have been if the court didn't block title 42 from being lifted. Next chance we have is if Hannen will declare the Daca program illegal. If that happens then they will pass something, but between point a and b there will be some time in between, so save up in the piggy bank.

Outsider626 · Outsider626

Heard about discussions for the last 10 years.

KB24 · KB24

If House was still under Democratic control I would say there is some chance this could happen. But I just don't see it happening with GOP House..

Red neck · Red neck

Why didnt they try this year when they had a better opportunity...
Its all talk...

FLDreamerrr · FLDreamerrr

“Joey from half court buzzer beater! 2023 will be our year, Joey will reach a massive deal with McCarthy and the dreamers will prevail after many years of being forgotten!”
-2face

hDreamer1988 · hDreamer1988

I would say any talk of Citizenship, Legal status for more than 1M people, or anything that does not have extreme border security is DOA in the republican house. If a bill passes the senate, I seriously doubt that the house would take it up. It would be like a 2010 dream act.

No one should get their hopes up considering the far right controls the house. They have been playing the long game by bringing Daca to the courts to kill it. We are about the see what their years of planning accomplishes .

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Axios Scoop: Biden administration plotting immigration reform in 2023