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Category: Administration

White House Unveils Immigration Framework

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The White House shared with Congress yesterday its “framework” for immigration reform, which includes, in general terms, the Administration’s plan for “Dreamers.”  The text of the framework is available here.

Key parts of the plan include:

  • a 10- to 12-year pathway to citizenship for 1.8 million DACA-eligible individuals;
  • $25-billion trust fund for a border wall; and,
  • elimination of “chain” migration and the visa lottery system

The Administration has stated that it plans to release a more detailed plan next Monday.

Read more about yesterday’s framework here and here.

 

Azar Confirmed

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Alex Azar was confirmed by the Senate earlier this afternoon as the next Secretary of Health and Human Services by a vote of 55 – 43.

Senate to Take Up HHS Nomination

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The full Senate is scheduled to take up today the nomination of Alex Azar to serve as Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).  Azar is not a new-comer to the HHS as he served as Deputy Secretary during the George W. Bush Administration.  He has recently been an executive at the pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly and Co.

HHS funds and oversees a host of health-related and biomedical agencies and research programs.  The National Institutes of Health is part of HHS.

Azar was nominated to replace former Secretary Tom Price, who resigned last year.

 

Monday Noon

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The Senate has scheduled a vote on a CR to reopen the government for Monday at noon. The CR will reportedly be the same as the previous CR, funding CHIP and eliminating the Cadillac tax, but it will not address DACA or Dreamers. To clarify, negotiations remain ongoing, and this is not a deal. Rather, it is the same bill passed by the House that failed to gain cloture in the Senate with a different date — February 9 vs. February 16.

Stay tuned.