White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders did not offer an endorsement of any immigration bills when asked during Thursday’s press conference about two Republican bills, including Speaker Paul Ryan’s new bill that offers a form of amnesty.
The press secretary repeatedly pointed back to the immigration plan that President Donald Trump laid out months ago. That plan involved four pillars required for him to approve an immigration bill.
Sanders was asked if the President had a preference between one of two Republican immigration bills being brought to the forefront at the moment.
“The President’s already laid out a proposal that closes the legal loopholes and provides the resources to secure out border,” Sanders replied. “If the process leads to a permanent solution as outlined by the President then we would support it.”
Portions of a draft of Ryan’s bill reveal that it does not meet the four pillars requirement that President Donald Trump firmly laid out last January as requirements for an immigration bill deal.
Sanders didn’t answer a question about whether the president has looked at the two proposals yet. She simply replied, “we’ve laid out what we want to see and if this gets to a permanent solution then we would support it.”
A reporter asked if the Trump administration blames the Democrats for not closing those loopholes, given that Republicans now control both houses of Congress, though don’t hold a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate. Sanders replied, “Look, if a handful of Democrats wanted to solve this problem, we could quickly get it done, but they don’t. And they’ve refused to come to the table and actually be part of a solution instead of just playing political games and attacking the president.”
“The majority of Republicans support fixing the loopholes, the president wants to work with them,” said Sanders. “We want to get something done and we’ve laid out a proposal to do that and we are hopeful that Congress, particularly Democrats in Congress, will come together and actually fix the system.”
She repeatedly said that the President wants to fix the loopholes and that the President has laid out what he wants to see in a bill to fix immigration problems. “We’d like to see a permanent solution to fix the loopholes and secure the border,” she said.
“He wants to see all of the different components that we laid out several months ago addressed, and if any of the legislation comes to the table that would create a permanent solution that does that, then we would support it,” said Sanders.
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