16 September, 2017
US House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan said on Thursday there was no deal reached between President Donald Trump and congressional Democratic leaders on a program to protect people brought into the United States illegally.
John Cornyn of Texas, the No. 2 Senate Republican, put it this way: There was "a deal to make a deal".
Trump himself said he was "fairly close" to an agreement that could protect the young "Dreamers" while also adding border security, as long as his long-promised wall with Mexico was also separately addressed.
But others recoiled at the prospect of Trump joining forces with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi on immigration, and seeming to get little in return.
Trump underscored that the roughly 800,000 people who would be affected were brought here as children through "no fault of their own". But Bannon, who kept a tally of Trump's campaign promises in his West Wing office, was pushed out this summer as part of Kelly's takeover of the White House.
Maybe the agreement will eventually fall apart when the particulars of the deal begin to be worked out, and Democrats balk at the amount of border security? "Democrats aren't going to support him and he would lose the entire Republican base", said GOP Rep. Tom McClintock of California.
"I know the people that were strong Trump supporters, that were on his bandwagon early on".
"At this point, who DOESN'T want Trump impeached?" conservative commentator Ann Coulter remarked over Twitter.
"The Administration looks forward to continuing these conversations with leadership on both sides of the aisle", said the White House official.
"We're not looking at citizenship, we're not looking at amnesty".
He also told reporters, "We're not looking at citizenship. And if they see amnesty coming out of the White House, then that's the one thing that will crack his base", King said.
After he landed in Florida, he declared repeatedly, "If we don't have a wall, we're doing nothing".
Amy Kremer, who founded the group Women Vote Trump, likened the president's deal-making with Democrats to one of history's most notorious political flip-flops: President George H.W. Bush's broken campaign-trail vow that he wouldn't raise taxes.
"The wall will come later", he said after emerging from his White House residence. Chuck Schumer of NY and Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California, the top Democrats on Capitol Hill.
The surprise maneuvering follows Trump's announcement last week that he would phase out Dreamers' protection from deportation under the five-year-old Obama administration program known as DACA - for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals.
So this is basically an argument over the word "deal".
"These were discussions not negotiations, there isn't an agreement", Ryan said. "I think the president understands that he's going to have to work with the congressional majorities to get any kind of legislative solution".
For their part, immigrant advocates and Latino lawmakers reacted cautiously, with several saying that any celebration would be premature. Some of Trump's appeal to the white, working-class voters who formed the basis of his voting bloc stemmed from his promises to crack down on illegal immigration.
Trump had said he would cancel the scheme, while giving Congress six months to enact a replacement plan for DACA recipients. But he's struggled with the issue as president, often speaking sympathetically about the young immigrants.
A deal would be the second major Trump-Pelosi-Schumer pact this month, following the agreement on the debt ceiling and government spending.
