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Blumenthal Says He'll Vote Against Short-Term Funding Bill Without Immigration Deal

Ryan Caron King
/
WNPR
Sen. Richard Blumenthal speaking to reporters in Hartford on November 13, 2017.

Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal is prepared to vote against a short-term funding bill that would prevent a government shutdown at the end of the week.

One of the reasons for his opposition, is the lack of an immigration deal in the proposed stopgap measure. He wants an extension of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, which would allow immigrants brought into the country as children to avoid deportation.

But Republicans are unlikely to include DACA in this week’s resolution.

According to NPR’s Susan Davis, this proposed resolution “is simply a vote to buy time to continue negotiations on immigration and budget talks, and [Republicans] want to cast the vote as a vote for [or] against a shutdown.”

Three stopgap measures have kept the government open since October 1.

Blumenthal said there’s no reason to exclude a bipartisan immigration proposal from Sens. Lindsey Graham and Dick Durbin. That deal was complicated after President Donald Trump’s explicit remarks last week about immigrants from African countries.

Even if he’s promised that immigration would be the top priority for Congress once a spending measure is in place, Blumenthal told CNN he is still a no vote.

“We’ve heard this before,” he said. “There needs to be a solution now.” Blumenthal said he was concerned about deadlines that face DACA recipients when the program expires on March 5.

The House Republican plan released on Tuesday would keep the government open through February 16.

Tucker Ives is WNPR's morning news producer.

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