Biden administration opts for bipartisan path over reconciliation to push immigration measures

White house on Wednesday said Biden administration will seek bipartisan path to pass immigration measures in the Congress. This was instead of using the special budget procedure called reconciliation which allows them to by pass Republican support to pass the immigration bill in the Congress.

The Biden administration had used the reconciliation budget rule to approve a $1.9 trillion coronavirus-relief package in March.

The budget rule would allow Democrats to pass legislation with a simple majority vote in the Senate and without any Republican support, a USA Today report said.

“The conversation should not be about a reconciliation process,” Press secretary Jen Psaki said. “It should be about moving forward in a bipartisan manner.”

Psaki’s comments came amid reports that Biden told members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus during a White House meeting on Tuesday that he would support moving immigration measures through the Senate with reconciliation, the USA today report said.

According to the report, Latino lawmakers are urging Biden to use the budget rules to push immigration legislation through the Senate if he is unable to win any GOP support for the proposals.

The Democratic-led House voted last month to approve a bill that would create a pathway to citizenship for millions of “Dreamers,” undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children, with bipartisan support. The same day, lawmakers passed another bill to eventually grant legal status to nearly a million immigrant farm workers and their families.

Both pieces of legislation have stalled in the Senate, where 60 votes are needed for most legislation to get around a Republican filibuster.

Biden also is pushing a comprehensive immigration bill – the U.S. Citizenship Act of 2021 – that would create an eight-year pathway to citizenship for nearly 11 million undocumented immigrants, with a shorter pathway available for farm workers and recipients of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). DACA is a program that allows people brought to the country illegally as children to stay.

“Of course, (Congress) members are going to propose a range of mechanics for moving things forward,” Psaki said. “But Biden believes that the conversation right now should not be focused on reconciliation. It should be focused on finding a bipartisan path forward.”