Dems’ immigration plan can’t be in $3.5T measure, Senate parliamentarian says

WASHINGTON — The Senate parliamentarian told Democrats on Wednesday that their newest proposal for helping millions of immigrants stay in the U.S. permanently could not be included in their $3.5 trillion social and environment bill, the party’s latest setback on the issue.

“It’s unfortunate. I disagree with her,” Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., one of the party’s pro-immigration advocates, said of the decision by Elizabeth MacDonough, the chamber’s nonpartisan rules arbiter.

The newly rejected language would have let immigrants in the U.S. before 2010 remain permanently if they met other conditions and could have helped 8 million people, said a person familiar with the plan who described it on condition of anonymity.

For many progressives and immigration advocates, one of the top goals of the $3.5 trillion bill has been to include a chance for permanent residence, and potentially citizenship, for millions of immigrants.

President Joe Biden proposed early this year seeking such a pathway for 11 million immigrants. While the House has approved legislation helping some of them, Republicans have bottled up those bills in the Senate and bipartisan talks there over potential compromises have failed.

Because of that blockade, Democrats have tried including their immigration provisions in the $3.5 trillion measure because it has special protections that prevent Republicans from using filibusters to kill it. Filibusters are delays that take 60 votes in the 50-50 Senate to halt.