The Note: Dark days for Dreamers

The Trump administration announced the wind-down of the DACA program.

ByABC News
September 6, 2017, 7:07 AM

— -- WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY

  • Trump to "revisit" DACA? After announcing the wind-down of the DACA program, the president tweeted Tuesday night: "Congress now has 6 months to legalize DACA (something the Obama Administration was unable to do). If they can't, I will revisit this issue!"

  • Tax plan on the road again: President Trump confers with bipartisan congressional leaders at the White House before he heads to North Dakota for a tax-related event with energy workers.

  • First cut: Congress is expected to quickly approve $7.85 billion in Hurricane Harvey emergency funding. The first votes are set for today, but confusion is growing over whether the debt ceiling will be tied in to storm relief.

  • Trial time: New Jersey Democrat Bob Menendez, facing corruption-related charges, goes on trial starting today, the first time in nearly four decades that a sitting U.S. senator has faced a federal bribery trial.

    • THE TAKE with ABC News' Rick Klein

    Is it possible that President Trump has a "great love" for people whom the attorney general labels "illegal aliens," and whom the White House says are taking jobs from U.S. citizens? Of course it's possible, because we're talking about a president whose words and deeds often don't match up. But for all the contradictions, there's one consistency, or at least a truth that even President Obama agreed with: Writing immigration law is the job of Congress. Lots of factors make that near-impossible, and not knowing the president's demands – would he reject a clean Dreamer bill while insisting on wall funding? – makes getting started difficult. Yet it should not be impossible. Immigration overhaul has always stirred bipartisan sentiments, and deadlines have long had a way of focusing congressional minds. Demanding that Congress step in to save DACA recipients may be a cynical move that prominent voices in the Trump administration hope will fail. That, though, shouldn't obscure the potential leadership moment for congressional leaders and rank-and-filers alike. They are free to set policy not because of presidential insistence, but because of presidential inaction. There's no reason Congress should have to wait for the president to "revisit" the non-decision announced Tuesday.

    CONGRESS HAMMERS AWAY ON HEALTH CARE

    Remember health care? Quietly and calmly, a bipartisan pair in the Senate is seeking out legislative fixes aimed at stabilizing the health care markets. The chairman of the health and education committee, Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., and ranking Democrat Patty Murray, D-Wash., have tackled big issues together before, and now are using the normal committee process. The first of two hearings this week will be held today, featuring insurance commissioners from around the country, followed by five governors Thursday. They will be the first public, bipartisan hearings on health care on Capitol Hill this year. The goal, as Alexander said, is to listen to experts who "ought to be able to advise us." It all seems so … normal. The top priority for the committee is stabilizing individual insurance marketplaces where people buy their own plans, ABC News' MaryAlice Parks notes. Murray wrote in an op-ed Tuesday, "Rather than wasting time on issues that divide us, we should prioritize finding common ground and moving the ball in the right direction."

    QUOTE OF THE DAY

    "If they can't, then they should get out of the way and let somebody else take their job that can actually get something done." -- White House press secretary Sarah Sanders on Congress' handling DACA

    NEED TO READ

    Trump administration to Dreamers: Prepare to self-deport. Talking points distributed by the Trump administration Tuesday urge DACA recipients to "prepare for and arrange their departure from the United States" -- even as President Donald Trump and the White House are pushing Congress for a legislative solution on immigration. http://abcn.ws/2xN84KG

    ANALYSIS: Trump seeks DACA bailout from Congress. President Donald Trump has spent much of his summer mocking, prodding and complaining about a Congress that was dysfunctional long before he arrived in Washington. Now he's counting on that Congress to bail him out, with the fates of nearly 800,000 individuals in the balance. http://abcn.ws/2wEJFXz

    Dreamers react to DACA ending: "I broke down when I heard." For around 800,000 young people in the United States, their future here is hanging in the balance over the next six months while Congress decides their fate. "I broke down when I heard what Jeff Sessions said, even though I expected him to say it," Diana Platas, a 19-year-old DACA recipient in Houston, told ABC News. "It just hit me harder when I heard the words coming out of his mouth ... he called me an illegal alien." http://abcn.ws/2vKoHcA

    DACA announcement sparks protests nationwide. Dozens of protesters were arrested in front of Trump Tower in New York in one of many nationwide protests after Tuesday's announcement that the Trump administration plans to end the DACA program. A total of 34 people have been arrested, according to the New York Police Department. http://abcn.ws/2j0xzoj

    FEMA is almost out of money and Hurricane Irma is approaching. Bloomberg News

    Rubio on Congress' taking up DACA: "The president will have to lead." Miami Herald

    House committee subpoenas FBI, Justice over Trump dossier. The Washington Examiner

    Clinton consumed with Russian meddling, she writes in new book. CNN

    The Note is a daily ABC News feature that highlights the key political moments of the day ahead. Please check back tomorrow for the latest.

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