Nancy Pelosi Goes 16 Innings For Dreamer Kids, And Some Guy's Being A Dick

Nancy Pelosi wrapped up a marathon speech on the floor of the House after talking for a bit over eight hours yesterday, using an obscure House rule that allowed her, as Minority Leader, to extend a "one minute" speech as long as she wanted. (For history buffs, the previous record for a House speech goes back to 1909, when a Missouri Democrat, Champ Clark, talked for five hours and 15 minutes about tariffs.) Pelosi used her full day of speaking -- with only occasional sips of water and no restroom breaks -- to call on Paul Ryan to commit to debating a bill that would guarantee a fix for DACA. During the speech, she read statement after statement from DACA recipients, to make clear that these aren't "illegals" -- these are American young people, most of whom were brought to the US when they were so young that this is the only country they've ever known. Pelosi kept pointing out every time one of them mentioned being in the National Honor Society -- or president of their school's chapter.

So, did it "work"? There's nothing about immigration in the two-year budget bill the Senate announce yesterday, which will go to a vote today before it's taken up in the House. Pelosi said she and many House Democrats would oppose that bill unless Ryan promises a full, open debate process on an immigration bill -- preferably a bipartisan measure sponsored by Texas Republican Will Hurd and California Democrat Pete Aguilar. Pelosi called on Ryan to bring that bill to the floor,

“and any other bills he believes should be considered” through the Queen of the Hill process , where the measure with most votes becomes the prevailing bill to reconcile with what whatever immigration solution the Senate settles upon.

Rightwing House Republicans have said they won't vote for the Senate compromise because it funds all sorts of wasteful madcap fripperies like Alzheimer's research and helping to pay college costs for teachers, cops, and firefighters, so Ryan will need Democrats to vote for it in order for the government to stay open. It's not clear whether enough Dems will vote for the Senate bill to pass it in the House, because who even knows anymore?

So will there be a government shutdown on behalf of the Dreamers? Hard to say. Enough D's may decide they're satisfied with Ryan's vague assurance that he will bring to the floor any DACA deal that the White House will support. That would keep the government open, but it would be terrible for Dreamers, because Donald Trump has repeatedly said -- now that Stephen Miller and John Kelly told him what he really believes -- that in exchange for providing a path to citizenship for roughly 1.8 million Dreamers, he wants billions of dollars for his damn wall, plus severe cutbacks, forever, on legal immigration, except for the Norwegians beating down our door.

Plus, some asshole said this:

As Pelosi enters hour four of DACA filibuster, Dem aide aligned with House mods emails me:

“The reality is that the filibuster is only being done to cater to the left-wing of the party at the expense of the larger caucus, and it's in the interest of one person: Leader Pelosi."

— Heather Caygle (@heatherscope)February 7, 2018 

The "left wing of the party" and the 87 percent of Americans who support the kids who were brought here as baby Americans tell that anonymous "moderate" "Dem" aide to sod off. Pelosi herself was clear about where she stood, painfully, on four-inch heels, after eight hours:

“My colleagues, for the last eight hours I have had the privilege of reading the testimony of so many Dreamers -- I still have more,” she said, smiling and raising a stack of letters as proof.

“Our basic request is honor the House of Representatives. Give us a chance to have a vote on the floor. Let us thank and acknowledge the Dreamers for their courage, their optimism their inspiration to make America more American.”

That's one hell of a lot better than thinking Greatness lies in exclusion and military power. All we've got is hope. And a Dream.

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[ WaPo / WaPo / ABC News / Guardian ]