By Leigh Ann Caldwell - NBC News
Democrats are pushing to include a path to citizenship for eight million undocumented immigrants within the $ 3.5 trillion budget bill they are pushing in Congress.
After years of unsuccessful negotiations between Democrats and Republicans to achieve immigration reform, this is a complicated initiative to carry out that uses a shortcut in the rules of Congress.
Democrats have argued that immigrants are essential to the economy and have raised
the importance of providing legal status to various groups
, including people who escaped disasters in their home countries and are now protected by TPS;
agricultural workers;
workers who performed essential tasks during the pandemic;
and the Dreamers, who came to the United States irregularly at the hands of their parents as children.
Undocumented immigrants represent 11% of workers in agriculture, 2% in health and 6% in food and production services, the study estimated.
"In short, we could not have survived this pandemic without millions of essential non-citizen workers and we will not be able to recover without the work they continue to do every day in hospitals, nursing homes and in the countryside," declared a Democratic adviser. , who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss it in public.
However,
your proposal may not be included in the comprehensive budget package that is under review in Congress
.
Democrats plan to use a specific set of rules in the Senate that allow a law to be passed with just 50 votes, which would allow them to dispense with the backing of Republicans, who have already advanced their opposition to the bill.
[Vice President Harris pledges with Mexico to create jobs that help curb the migration crisis]
Because these special procedures can only be used on spending and tax issues,
Democrats must argue that their immigration proposals meet these requirements
.
A group of Democratic advisers presented their arguments on this Friday before the Senate parliamentarian, which is the legislator in charge of deciding what can be included in a bill and what not.
The group of lawmakers argued that granting legal status to eight million people would cost the government $ 139.6 billion within 10 years,
because they would become eligible to receive various
public
benefits
, including subsidies from the Health Care Act. Affordable (also known as Obamacare), Medicaid, tax credits, food stamps and the children's health insurance program, according to the advisor consulted by NBC News.
Republicans have argued that the measure should not be included in the bill because its impact would be "secondary" to the budget.
The Senate MP could make a recommendation as soon as this weekend
.
[Organizations say they reached an agreement to extend TPS for Salvadorans]
Providing legal status to undocumented immigrants, especially dreamers and farm workers, has been a high priority for Democrats, but after two attempts at comprehensive immigration reform in the past 15 years, Congress has been unable to reach an agreement.
Democrats, who control the House, Senate and White House, see the spending bill as
their only chance
as it can pass in the Senate with just 50 votes, instead of 60, allowing them to do so. without Republican support.