House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) on Wednesday began a filibuster on the House floor to protest the lack of congressional action on legal protections for DREAMers, the undocumented immigrants who were brought to the U.S. illegally as children. “As members of Congress, we have a moral responsibility to act now to protect DREAMers who are the pride of our nation and are American in every way but on paper,” Pelosi said. Her filibuster came shortly after she announced that she and other House Democrats will oppose a longer term budget deal without a commitment from House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) to “advance bipartisan legislation to protect DREAMers in the House.” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) made a similar commitment to Democrats last month in order to secure their votes to re-open the government after they forced a shutdown over the immigration issue. Ryan has said the House would only consider legislation that has President Donald Trump’s support. —Andrew Desiderio
