Steny Hoyer says he doesn’t see a shutdown happening, but no progress made on DACA

House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer said Wednesday that even though he doesn’t see a government shutdown happening, lawmakers have not made much progress on either a budget agreement or immigration plan.

“The Republicans, who control all the organs of government, have not sent a single appropriation bill to the president for signature. Therefore, no agency knows how much they have to spend, and how they can plan, how they can make contracts, hire people, achieve objectives,” Mr. Hoyer, Maryland Democrat, said on CNN.

“In addition to that, we have not dealt with DACA,” he added, referring to the Obama-era program Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. Mr. Trump announced the end of this program, which has had numerous legal challenges, by March 5, but urged Congress to pass protections for this group.

Mr. Hoyer declined to call out White House Chief of Staff John Kelly for telling reporters that some DACA recipients didn’t sign up for the program out of laziness and instead said reaching an agreement is the important focus.

“What I want to do is reach an agreement. Gen. Kelly is an important part of our discussion along with the four of us who are called the number two leaders in each party, in the House and the Senate. It’s tough. We haven’t made much progress, but I think we can,” Mr. Hoyer said.