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The Democratic legislative locomotive is now moving uphill. Photo: Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images

There was a time a few months ago when much of the talk in Washington was about the breakneck speed with which the Democratic Congress was dealing with President Joe Bidens legislative agenda. As spring begins to yield to summer, such talk has been replaced with headlines like this one from Politico: Dems sweating a pileup of big votes on Bidens agenda.

Yes, Biden and company can take great pride in the size, scope, and partisan unity underlying the COVID-19 relief and stimulus package he signed on March 11. But moving progressive legislation outside the justification offered by the pandemic and its economic fallout has been predictably difficult. Biden and key centrist Senate Democrats hope to enact at least part of the administrations agenda via bipartisan negotiation and regular order (i.e., not budget reconciliation, which allowed them to pass the stimulus package without fears of a Republican filibuster). This has introduced a set of interlocking strategic issues that must be resolved before Congress can get moving again.

Here are the roadblocks congressional Democrats are facing, and the likeliest timeline for enacting their ambitious agenda.

Biden put forth two massive spending proposals this spring: the American Jobs Plan, which focuses on infrastructure, and the American Families Plan, which aims to expand access to education, improving access to child care, and reduce child poverty.

But recent events have made several other legislative initiatives top priorities for most Democrats. For instance, lawmakers hoped to seize on momentum from the Derek Chauvin verdict to enact police reform, and Biden indicated that he wanted a bipartisan deal by May 25 anniversary of George Floyds murder. (Obviously, they missed that deadline, and the two two parties remain divided over Democratic demands to remove qualified immunity for police officers.) The state-level Republican drive to restrict voting opportunities in the wake of Donald Trumps effort to overturn the 2020 election results has made federal voting rights a more pressing concern. And theres the messy fight over Democratic proposals to create, and Republican efforts to evade, a formal commission to investigate the January 6 Capitol riot.

Theres also renewed interest in addressing several perennial issues. A spate of high-profile mass shootings this year increased pressure for bipartisan gun safety legislation. And 2020 Democratic losses among Latino voters have fed demands that comprehensive immigration reform measures.

Meanwhile, there is one complicated legislative package with interest in both parties, which is likely to see action as it is a signature initiative for Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer: the Endless Frontier Act, a bundle of science and technology investments and provisions aimed at countering Chinas economic challenge.

Figuring out what to move when, and in what legislative form, has enormously complicated the congressional agenda for Biden and Democrats as the year has proceeded.

It was exciting news for Democrats in early April when Senate parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough agreed with Schumers suggestion that a revised budget resolution could trigger a second budget reconciliation bill in any given fiscal year. That opened the prospect of at least two more reconciliation bills in calendar year 2021 (a second FY 2021 bill, and a first FY 2022 bill) that could evade a Senate filibuster.

These reconciliation bills remain subject to various limitations, like the Byrd Rule germaneness requirement, and any second FY 2021 reconciliation bill must be completed by September 30. Plus, the parliamentarian is likely to rule that immigration, gun, and voting-rights legislation is ineligible (just as a $15 minimum wage was struck from the COVID-19 bill).

But otherwise, the composition of any reconciliation bill is entirely flexible. So, for example, its possible that both the American Jobs Plan and the American Families Plan could be part of one massive bill, along with tax offsets. Or they could be broken into two bills that will equally benefit from a filibuster exemption and pass with 50 Senate votes. Democrats have yet to decide how theyll proceed.

There has been bipartisan interest in an infrastructure bill dating back to the Trump administration, though the Biden administration seems to be more serious about its effort to reach a deal based at least loosely on its $2.25 trillion American Jobs Plan. A segment of the infrastructure agenda looks well on its way to enactment via regular order, in the form of a five-year, $300 billion highway-reauthorization bill that was recently agreed to by key Democrats and Republicans on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. Beyond that, the two parties are far apart on the scope and price tag for an infrastructure package, and for the revenue offsets necessary to pay for it.

Biden had set a tentative Memorial Day (May 31) deadline for reaching an infrastructure deal with Republicans. Its not looking good at all. Part of the problem is that Republicans know any elements of the American Jobs Plan not included in a bipartisan bill can be moved separately in a reconciliation bill, over which they will have no control. So they are likely trying to secure agreements barring subsequent provisions along with a major paring-back of Bidens economic proposals, particularly those involving climate change, wages, collective bargaining, and other items that dont involve bricks and mortar.

Its not just Bidens campaign talk about bipartisanship or the support poll respondents show for cooperation across party lines even as more and more of them vote straight tickets that is forcing negotiations before Democrats move on to the inevitable second and third reconciliation bills. Using reconciliation requires Democratic solidarity (or less plausibly, Republican defections), and certain centrist Democratic senators notably West Virginias Joe Manchin are insisting that maximum efforts be made to involve Republicans in the crafting of legislation wherever it is possible.

It is unclear at this stage how many concessions to Republicans Manchin will demand, and whether if they are unsuccessful he will support reconciliation as he did with the COVID-19 bill. But it appears Manchin wants to give negotiators plenty of time, and thats slowing down the entire process.

Aside from the self-imposed deadlines set by the White House and congressional leaders, there is one objective-reality deadline: the imminent breaching of the public-debt limit. If you havent heard about the debt limit in a while, its because it was suspended in the Bipartisan Budget Act enacted in August of 2019, which successfully put off the traditional crisis over debt-limit increases for the remainder of the Trump administration. On July 31, the suspension ends, and getting the votes to extend or to increase the limit wont be easy, as the Washington Post explains:

The suspension of the debt limit ends after July 31, and Congress will need to either raise it or suspend it again around that time to prevent the nation from defaulting on its debt. Doing so triggered some of the most bitter fights in the Obama administration between the former president and congressional Republicans, and GOP lawmakers are signaling similar warfare in the coming months.

It normally takes some concession for any administration to get the debt-limit increase, warned Sen. Roy Blunt (Mo.), a member of the Senate GOP leadership. I dont know what that looks like yet, but I dont think youll get a debt limit without working with our side on some things wed like to see.

The Posts reference to the Obama administration is instructive: Voting against a debt limit increase would be an almost perfect opportunity for Republicans to symbolically express their return to fiscal hawkishness now that their free-spending 45th president is no longer in office. But there are two factors that could decisively limit Republican leverage on this subject. First, the Treasury Department has in its arsenal a variety of temporary measures to finance debt and avoid breaching the limit, which has the effect of postponing any debt limit cliff for several months. And second, a debt limit increase (or even the more radical approach of abolishing the debate limit altogether) can be included in a reconciliation bill, and Democrats do plan to have another one this summer or at the latest this fall.

Still, wrangling over the debt limit will absorb time and energy, while augmenting Republican messaging about the radical socialist Democrat agenda, allowing the GOP to score points about Biden initiatives in the aggregate that they cannot score on individually popular items.

Fiscal Year 2021 ends on September 30. While this years big legislative fights are over mandatory spending and taxes rather than discretionary spending, there are a number of emergency-assistance provisions set out in the last two COVID-19 relief and stimulus bills that run out just before or on that deadline. And appropriations do have to be renewed by September 30, with or without the usual expedient of temporary continuing resolutions that give negotiators more time to reach agreement. These deadlines do create pressure points that Republicans might exploit, or that give them leverage in broader negotiations.

It is part of Washington lore than nothing significant gets done in even years because of election-year pressures, and the extremely narrow margin of Democratic control in both chambers could lead vulnerable Democrats to resist another big reconciliation bill next year. By the same token, however, the strong odds of a Republican midterm takeover of the House (and possibly the Senate as well) could spur Biden and the Democratic congressional leadership to get as much of their agenda done as quickly as possible.

Its also far from certain that Democratic unity across ideological and regional lines will be sustainable. There are constant potential fault lines in the details of the tax legislation that will be needed to finance Bidens plans (e.g., over the restored SALT deductions that well-placed lawmakers representing upper-income citizens in high-tax states are insisting on). And Bidens apparent unwillingness to go as far as progressives would like on health care policy (particularly a public option within Obamacare) and climate change could be problematic.

Any precise timetable for legislative activity in 2021 is impossible to lay out at the moment. A lot will depend on how much time Democrats devote to bipartisan negotiations that may or may not produce actual legislation. But once they give a green light to one or more reconciliation bills, things can move pretty quickly, as the COVID-19 relief and stimulus legislation showed: Congress passed the first FY 2021 budget resolution on March 8, and then the subsequent reconciliation bill in just over a month.

So if Democrats decide to load the American Jobs Plan and the American Family Plan into one giant reconciliation bill, they could start and finish the process this summer, and then decide what to throw into a third reconciliation bill before buckling down for the midterm election stretch drive. Alternatively, Democrats would likely need to pass two reconciliation bills by the end of the year. In either event, that would require avoiding a debt limit or year-end appropriations crisis, and spending a minimum amount of time on non-reconciliation matters (e.g., immigration, guns, and election reform). This will be tricky given the important constituencies invested in these measures, and unpredictable factors like how many delays Manchin demands to give Republicans a chance to cooperate.

Biden has already accomplished a lot, and Democrats have been more unified than anyone had reason to expect. But audacious plans loudly announced, and potentially a short window of Democratic control, mean that expectations will remain high throughout this fateful year. This may be a relaxed and celebratory summer for Americans as a whole, but their representatives in Washington will have to fully earn their pay.

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When Will Congress Move on Bidens Agenda? - New York Magazine

Under the reforms travellers will have to have an ETA before entering the country. Ministers have said that the fully digital system will be operational by the end of 2025.

Our new plan will make it easier to identify potential threats before they reach the border

It is hoped the use of ETAs will make the UKs immigration system more secure by automatically checking for criminals from other countries and allowing more accurate statistics.

This year, we will end the use of insecure ID cards for people to enter our country and we will apply tougher UK criminality rules, said Patel during a speech at a conference organised by think tanks Bright Blue and British Future.

We are working on further reforms, including Electronic Travel Authorisations, as part of a simpler and more secure, universal permissions to travel requirement.

Our new plan will make it easier to identify potential threats before they reach the border, through targeted and effective interventions from co-ordinated multi-agency operations.

Patel said that the UKs new digital border will provide the ability to count people in and count people out of the country.

We will have a far clearer picture of who is here and whether they should be and will act when they are not, she added.

The home secretary said that there will be wholescale reform of the UKs immigration system.

She said that anything short of this would not meet the demands of the British people.

They want a new system that works for the law-abiding majority and against those who abuse our hospitality and generosity.

One that welcomes those most in need of sanctuary and one that slams the door on dangerous criminals, she said.

Patel acknowledged that the UK government still wants to attract top talent from around the world.

Yes, we want employers to train and invest in our domestic workforce. But we know that they always need access to global talent.

This is why the system is designed to keep the UK at the forefront of innovation. We are introducing bespoke routes to enable more students, scientists, academics, investors, and entrepreneurs to come here, she said.

Patel claimed that the UKs global talent route for leaders in science, engineering, digital technology, medicine, humanities, arts, and culture is already thriving.

She noted that recent reforms mean that prestigious prize-winners can fast-track the endorsement process and make a single visa application.

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UK: Immigration reform will see creation of "fully digital border" - The PIE News

Migrants were taken into custody by U.S. Customs and Border Protection a total of 178,622 times in April a 21-year high, according to new federal statistics. Most were immediately expelled under a pandemic health order. But increasingly convoluted border policy from the Biden administration and unevenly enforced Mexican law means some migrants are granted entrance into the U.S. depending on various factors. Who is allowed in and who isnt under the Biden administrations confusing border policy at times have even seasoned experts at a loss.

On Thursday, May 27, ProPublica-Texas Tribune investigative unit reporter Lomi Kriel moderated a conversation with Theresa Cardinal Brown, managing director of immigration and cross-border policy at the Bipartisan Policy Center; Alex Nowrasteh, director of immigration studies at the Cato Institute; Ursela Ojeda, policy adviser at the Womens Refugee Commission; and Andrew Selee, president of the Migration Policy Institute.

They discussed the policy decisions that have led to so much confusion and what to expect in the upcoming months, in addition to answering questions about the border and immigration reform.

Tribune events are supported through contributions from our founding investors and members. Though donors and corporate sponsors underwrite Texas Tribune events, they play no role in determining the content, panelists or line of questioning.

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Watch: ProPublica and The Texas Tribune lead conversation on border policy - The Texas Tribune

The Biden Administration must do more to protect DACA than invite Dreamers to the White House and streamline the bureaucratic process that grants temporary residency to immigrants who entered the U.S. illegally as children, recipients of the program say.

So far, the president has given little more than the lip service and the typical rhetoric politicians offer in support of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Program, said Ricardo Morones Torres, an Austin, Texas, resident and law school graduate who has enjoyed DACA protections since 2013.

Theres always talk but not enough action, Torres said. We are not seeing any heavy lifting or pushing for immigration reform.

On May 14, Biden met with Dreamers a term gleaned from previous Congressional Dream Act proposals to prevent deportations and grant working status to immigrants who grew up in the U.S. to express his support for that program, for migrant farmworkers, Temporary Protective Status holders and other immigrants considered essential to the U.S. economy.

The president and the Dreamers also discussed the continued need for immigration reform and the White Houses strong support for the Dream and Promise Act and the Farm Workforce Modernization Act, two bills that have already passed the House with bipartisan support and are awaiting action in the Senate, a White House statement said.

Both measures would provide paths to citizenship for DACA recipients while enabling the government to reject applicants considered threats to national security, according to an analysis by the National Law Review.

And the presidents U.S. Citizenship Act of 2021, introduced in Congress in February, would make about 11 million undocumented immigrants eligible for lawful protective immigrant, or LPI, status. Immigrants working in essential services also would be eligible while immigrants who came into the U.S. as children, including Dreamers, would qualify for lawful permanent status.

As those measures wind their way through the legislative process, the existing DACA program is being bolstered at the procedural and regulatory levels, Felicia Escobar Carrillo, chief of staff in the office of the director of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, said during a recent webinar.

We are actually working to fortify and preserve DACA as directed by a presidential memo that was signed on Jan. 20, she said.

One aspect of the program that needs to be addressed is the date of U.S. entry to be eligible, said Greg Smith, Cooperative Baptist Fellowship field personnel and co-founder of an immigrant services ministry in Fredericksburg, Va., that offers legal services.

The main difficulty with DACA today is that very few young Dreamers have been in the U.S. since June 15, 2007, which was the original and still current starting date for continuous presence a person has to prove in order to qualify for DACA.When the Obama administration first established DACA in 2012, proving continuous presence in the U.S. since 2007 wasnt that difficult.But now in 2021, it is, he said.

DACA applicants usually are relieved that the program continues to exist, Smith said, because it exists to provide some shelter from possible deportation, not to mentionproviding them with an Employment Authorization Document (work permit) so they can earn money without fearing government reprisal.

But he also is curious about long-term solutions. Something I would like to know is where Congress is in terms of making DACA, or something like it for Dreamers, permanent.

DACA recipients and their families remain vulnerable as long as such questions have to be asked, said Hector, a 29-year-old Dreamer who lives in Fredericksburg, Va.

Hector said the program has opened doors, enabling him to get a drivers license, earn a degree from Bluefield College in Virginia and land a job as a payroll compliance auditor.

For me and a lot of DACA recipients, the reason for being in DACA is to allow us to progress more and more as our goals become bigger and bigger, he said.

We want to push the administration to act more aggressively.

But there is always another obstacle, and for me and other recipients right now that obstacle is citizenship, Hector added. We want to push the administration to act more aggressively.

In Austin, Torres agreed the sense of urgency he and other Dreamers feel about the pace of the White House and Congress on immigration reform stems from the blessing DACA has been to them and their families.

Torres, who is studying for the Texas bar exam and hopes to become a prosecutor, said he doesnt want to return to the fear that plagued him throughout his childhood.

I was fully aware of my illegal status even at the age of 4 because crossing the border with your parents while the Border Patrol is chasing you makes you fully aware, he said. I have always lived in fear because I knew we didnt have the legal status to be here, so into my teenage years it was always a concern.

The fears resurfaced for a time when former President Donald Trump attempted to end the DACA program. His efforts were overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2020.

Hence, Torres and other Dreamers are doing what they can to share their stories and to urge the White House to drive harder for the codification of DACA and other immigrant protections.

Our main concern is that the whole immigration issue is going to be placed on the back burner like it was under the Obama administration, or that President Biden and congressional Democrats are not going to push hard enough for an immigration deal, Torres said.

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What would happen if immigration policies were based on majority opinion in the U.S.?

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Dreamers want White House and Congress to do more for their protection - Baptist News Global

Washington (May 28, 2021) U.S. Senator Edward J. Markey(D-Mass.) released the following statement today after Senate Republicansoverwhelmingly voted to oppose debate on the bipartisan January 6thCommission.

The U.S. Capitol and our very democracy came under attackon January 6, and instead of committing to an investigation of how and why itoccurred, Senate Republicans balked, saidSenator Markey. Police officers lost their lives, security was compromised,the Vice President could have been killed, but Republicans would rather embracethe Big Lie than get to the real truth. It is crystal clear that the vastmajority of Senate Republicans are unwilling to try and legislate in good faithon anything of importance to the American people. Unless we abolish thefilibuster, there will be no progress on any agenda focused on justice,fairness, or basic survival.

Leader McConnell is engaging in the same obstructionisttactics he used under the Obama administration to stop progress in ourcountry, continued Senator Markey. Wehave seen this movie before, but this time we must write a different ending andfinally rid our system of the Jim Crow vestige that is the filibuster. TheAmerican people are crying out for action on a range of life-saving issues:climate action to meet the scope and scale of the crisis we face, protectingand expanding voting rights across America, closing background check loopholes,passingcomprehensive immigration reform, and improving our health caresystem. Protecting the filibuster is protecting the broken status quo, and wecannot allow that to happen any longer.

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Senator Markey on GOP Filibuster of Jan. 6 Commission: This Is Why We Must Abolish the Filibuster - Ed Markey