Republicans in Congress blamed Democrats for the short government shutdown last month because Democrats wanted to attach a measure to renew the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program to government funding. Republicans have also insisted that immigration should not be tied to funding.
They're now considering doing exactly that.
The second highest ranking Republican in the Senate is floating the idea of attaching it to next month's continuing resolution to fund the federal government.
Senator John Cornyn of Texas, the No. 2 GOP leader, said a potential vehicle for a DACA solution looms in the form of a massive 2018 fiscal year spending bill that must clear Congress by March 23 to avert a third government shutdown this year.
“I’d rather have a permanent bill, but if we can’t do that maybe we’ll do something shorter,” he said. “I don’t see it getting dedicated floor time, if there can be some negotiation leading up to the omnibus perhaps there can be some temporary provision, which to me is not great but that’s kinda where we are.”
It still seems very unlikely to me that DACA will be renewed this year even if it were only temporary, but the fact that Cornyn is even floating the idea suggests that they're afraid of the economic and political consequences of letting it lapse.
Multiple federal courts have already bought Republicans extra time by striking down Trump's order to end DACA, but no one knows how long that will last.