Rep. Tom Cole said Thursday that President Trump might be the first president to pass major immigration reform.
“I think he’s positioned us for a DACA [Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals] solution and that’s something that neither President Bush nor President Obama were able to get major immigration reform to the Congress. President Trump, ironically, might be the first guy to do that. I think there’s all kinds of implications to what he did yesterday, but count me as one that thinks the upside is much greater than the downside,” Mr. Cole, Oklahoma Republican, said on MSNBC.
Mr. Cole was responding to reports that conservatives were upset with Mr. Trump for giving in to the Democrats’ demands at Wednesday’s meeting with congressional leadership. The Oklahoma congressman argued now is not the time for political fights.
“Look, we don’t need to run out of money in a week or 10 days in the middle of a natural disaster, and if people try to use the debt ceiling to score political points, it almost always fails,” Mr. Cole said.
Mr. Trump met with both Democratic and Republican leaders in the House and Senate on Wednesday and agreed on passing aid for Tropical Storm Harvey victims, an extension for the debt limit and a continuing resolution to Dec. 15 to avoid a default. Republicans had reportedly wanted an 18-month, debt-ceiling increase to avoid issues before the 2018 midterm elections.
• Sally Persons can be reached at spersons@washingtontimes.com.
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