Washington Update: Week of January 23

2 MIN READ
Washington Update

Budget & Appropriations

  • President Trump’s team is working with the Office of Management and Budget to lay the groundwork for the new administration’s initial budget proposal, which is expected to reach Congress in the next 45 days.
  • In their search for savings, the Trump administration is relying on proposals outlined last year by the Heritage Foundation in its “Blueprint for Balance: A Federal Budget for 2017.” Many of the cuts hew closely to the fiscal year 2017 budget plan adopted by the Republican Study Committee (RSC), a caucus that represents a majority of House Republicans.
  • Using both the Heritage Foundation and the RSC proposals, Trump’s administration is working on a plan that would cut federal spending by $10.5 trillion over 10 years. House conservatives say a fight over the fiscal year 2018 budget resolution will be the most important of the year and they intend to use the situation to steer the incoming Trump administration toward embracing trillions of dollars in entitlement cuts needed to balance the budget.

Immigration

  • Two weeks ago, Sens. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Reps. Mike Coffman (R-Colo.) and Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.) reintroduced the Bar Removal of Individuals who Dream and Grow our Economy (BRIDGE) Act, which would provide temporary relief from deportation and work authorization to undocumented youth who qualify for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.
  • Many of these individuals, (commonly referred to as “DREAMers”) were brought to the U.S. as children. The law would allow DREAMers to legally work and study in the U.S. More than 741,000 individuals are currently protected by DACA and would be impacted if it were rescinded by executive order under the Trump administration.

Act Now!

Call and urge your senators and representative (800-826-3688) to protect young, undocumented immigrants, also known as DREAMers, from deportation, by co-sponsoring the BRIDGE Act (H.R. 496/S.128).

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