FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

January 22, 2018

Contact: Sarah Schultz, sarah.schultz@younginvincibles.org, 202.734.6510

Funding Deal Forces a Truth Test in the Fight to Shield Young People from Deportation

[WASHINGTON]–Today, Senate leaders struck a deal to fund the federal government through February 8th in exchange for bringing bipartisan legislation to protect Dreamers to the floor of the U.S. Senate. This package also includes a 6-year reauthorization of the Children’s Health Insurance Program, which provides access to health coverage to nearly 9 million kids from low- and middle-income families.

Young Invincibles’ Government Affairs Director Reid Setzer released the following statement in response to the passage of today’s deal:

“Today’s deal marks a critical juncture in the fight to protect Dreamers and a leap of faith that in the next three weeks Congress will undertake a clean legislative process to address the elimination of DACA. For the past five months, Dreamers have been living in fear of deportation because of a crisis created by President Trump, and our elected officials have done nothing to ensure their peace of mind. Millennials are deeply disappointed.

Young Invincibles and millions of young people who stand with Dreamers will hold accountable any and all politicians that stand in the way of protecting young immigrants. We will be watching to see if Leader McConnell holds up his end of the bargain and allows a vote addressing DACA to come to the floor in the next three weeks. We’ll be watching to make sure Speaker Ryan keeps his previous commitments to address DACA. And we’ll be watching to see if President Trump or extremists in his Administration derail another bipartisan deal to shield young people from deportation.

By funding the Children’s Health Insurance Program, today’s vote also frees millions of young families’ health care from being held hostage. It is a disgrace that Congress let millions of families worry about whether their children would be able to access needed care, and we are relieved their nightmare has come to an end.”