“You can’t go to the base and tell them this is a win here. It’s a lie,” said one House GOP aide after the White House briefed congressional staff on the proposal last week.
Virginia Rep. Dave Brat said Trump’s plan would be a “disaster” for the GOP. “I think the White House staff and Senate staff who helped to write that thing took their eye off the ball and off the promises the president made to the American people,” said Brat, who in the 2014 primary defeated Majority Leader Eric Cantor, a supporter of legal status for young immigrants. “This will be a devastating damage for the Republican Party if we go down this road with a huge amnesty that doesn’t get the policy right.”
Conservatives have rallied behind a proposal from House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte that is stricter on enforcement and provides protected status to a smaller number of Dreamers, but not a pathway to citizenship. The legislation would likely repel Democrats needed for any plan to pass the U.S. Senate, but has attracted the support of House lawmakers like Martha McSally, who is running in the GOP primary for the U.S. Senate seat in Arizona. One of her opponents, Kelli Ward, denigrated the White House proposal, reflecting the sentiments of the party base in difficult primary elections.
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