Budget package includes pathway to citizenship, green cards for millions
By Rebecca Beitsch - 08/09/21 10:22 AM EDT
Democrats’ $3.5 trillion budget resolution package instructs lawmakers to chart a pathway to citizenship for millions of people while investing in border security.
The bill text unveiled Monday includes some $107 billion for the Senate Judiciary Committee to spend on each, giving lawmakers a soft deadline of Sept. 15.
The package does not specify how many people or which groups would be covered by the legislation, instead directing the committee to provide “lawful permanent status for qualified immigrants.” A summary of the bill also states it will provide green cards “to millions of immigrant workers and families.”
House Democrats have floated a plan that would cover not only Dreamers brought to the U.S. as children but also migrant farmworkers, workers deemed essential during the pandemic and those who already hold Temporary Protected Status after being unable to return to their countries.
In all, Democrats could make around 10 million people eligible for a path to citizenship — just shy of the 11 million people who would be affected by a bill from Biden that has stalled in Congress.
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https://thehill.com/policy/national-security/566964-budget-reconciliation-package-includes-pathway-to-citizenship
