Paul Ryan praises Trump's DACA decision less than a week after criticizing it

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published 6 September 2017

Just five days after House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) said he didn't think that President Trump should end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, Ryan praised Trump for doing exactly that. "President Trump was right in his decision. He made the right call," Ryan said Wednesday about Trump's decision to rescind the program protecting immigrants who were brought to the U.S. illegally as children.

Less than a week ago, Ryan urged Trump to leave it to Congress to find a legislative solution to DACA, noting that "these are kids who know no other country." But he seems to have warmed to the decision, now that Trump is giving Congress a six-month window to address the issue, and said he plans to tie border security to any legislative fix to DACA. "It's only reasonable and fitting that we also address the root cause of the problem, which is borders that aren't sufficiently controlled, while we address this very real and very human problem that's right in front of us," Ryan said, adding that people "should rest easy" on DACA.

Ryan also took the opportunity to blast Democrats for trying to "play politics" with the debt ceiling. He said that it was a "ridiculous idea" to attach Harvey relief to a three-month increase in the debt limit, which is what Democratic leaders Rep. Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) and Sen. Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) have proposed instead of Republicans' more long-term debt hike.