September 08, 2017 01:59 PM UTC

Coffman Caves on BRIDGE Act Discharge Petition

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• by: Colorado Pols

UPDATE: Congressman Mike Coffman’s on-again, off-again support of DREAMERs is back on again. For now.

I was pleased to introduce the Protect DREAMER Confidentiality Act with @RepBetoORourke today https://t.co/wCLD0g6c7k

— Rep. Mike Coffman (@RepMikeCoffman) September 9, 2017

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The Denver Post’s Mark Matthews reports–Rep. Mike Coffman got his headlines, and…

Coffman no longer will press Congress to vote on a bill to help young immigrants who are at risk for deportation — an about-face that critics said confirms their suspicions that the Aurora Republican launched the short-lived effort simply for political gain.

Three days ago, Coffman filed what’s called a “discharge petition” to try to force the House to vote on a measure that would suspend the deportation of immigrants registered with the 2012 program called Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, which President Donald Trump is canceling.

It was an unusual move, as discharge petitions typically aren’t used by the members of the party in power, but the fifth-term Republican said it was necessary to compel his GOP colleagues to take steps to protect DACA recipients…

That was then. This is now:

“I had a conversation with House Speaker (Paul) Ryan (on) Wednesday morning and he said that he’s committed to get DACA passed, albeit he wants to do it with some type of border security; I’m fine with that,” Coffman said Friday. [Pols emphasis] “What I told him is I’d hold it back but if I saw that he wasn’t making progress in terms of putting something forward, that I would push the discharge petition.”

After being forced by prudence (not to mention agreement) to praise Coffman’s move a few days ago, Democrats unleashed fury on Coffman for walking back his commitment to press forward, with mostly Democratic support if needed, with a discharge petition to force a vote on the BRIDGE Act:

Instead of defending DREAMers, #CO06 GOP Rep. Coffman left their fate in Trump & Speaker Ryan’s hands. Disgraceful. https://t.co/ULADj3nyPQ

— DCCC (@dccc) September 8, 2017

Although Coffman reportedly signed on without fanfare as a cosponsor of the current version of the full DREAM Act just before the August recess, the BRIDGE Act is a simpler bill that would have extended the DACA protections for three years. Most importantly, the BRIDGE Act and the DREAM Act were standalone pieces of legislation not dependent on some larger bargain on the divisive subject of “border security.” In short, these were bills that would not require a deal to build Donald Trump’s wall in order to give Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) beneficiaries peace of mind.

Except now apparently, making DACA contingent on “border security” is “fine” with Mike Coffman! That’s an undeniable step backward from the leadership Coffman was making an effort to show last week, using a legislative tactic normally used by the minority to force a quick vote on a standalone bill to renew the terms of DACA for three years with no strings. In short, if you thought Coffman was going to follow through and match his words with action, you got played. And if you were cynical about Coffman’s true intentions and willingness to buck Republican leadership on this issue, you were right.

Mike Coffman is who he is, a conservative Republican and loyal member of Paul Ryan’s Republican majority. He will never be the right man to represent a district Hillary Clinton won by nine points last year. He can only fake it. What happened today was the end stage of faking it, and it was always inevitable.

Coffman caved.