John Fetterman's newest offer to Republicans will upset his Democrat bosses who have blocked GOP immigration bill



Sen. John Fetterman is reportedly open to considering H.R. 2, an immigration bill championed by House Republicans.

The Pennsylvania Democrat, who is increasingly proving to be a thorn in the side of Democrats, supports "most" of H.R. 2, Fox News correspondent Chad Pergram reported on Thursday.

But what Fetterman doesn't support is altering the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, otherwise known as DACA.

"I analyzed it closely," Fetterman said of the bill. "And the the one thing that I cannot support is that it effectively ends DACA at all. But anything other than that, that all can be on the table for me.

"My only kill switch on that is DACA. You know, DACA must be protected. But the rest can be on the table," he added.

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Not only is Fetterman open to supporting Republican solutions on the border, but he criticized the bipartisan bill introduced earlier this month that Democrats claimed would help solve the border crisis. That bill infamously sought to give Ukraine three times as much taxpayer money as the border received.

Fetterman told Pergram that he is "willing and eager to go stronger than the border deal that ... was here."

The significance of Fetterman's position cannot be understated.

Not a single House Democrat supported H.R. 2 when the House passed it last year, and it has been collecting dust on Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer's (D) desk since last summer.

But a crack in the Democrats' armor by way of Fetterman's support could encourage other moderates in the Democratic caucus — like Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.) — to support the bill. Support from those three lawmakers would allow the Senate to pass Sen. Ted Cruz's (R) companion bill to H.R. 2.

If that were to happen, the bill would never actually become law because President Joe Biden would not sign it.

But it would put Biden in the awkward position of rejecting legislation that Republicans say would provide real solutions to the immigration crisis, bolstering Republican claims that Biden is both responsible for the current magnitude of the crisis and is blocking real solutions that would alleviate it.

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