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Article snippet: Rep. Luis Gutiérrez (D-Ill.), a leading advocate in the House for passing a bipartisan solution this year for expiring immigration protections, says action in Congress may have to wait until 2018. If Republicans muster enough votes in their conference next week to clear a must-pass spending measure, Democrats’ efforts to achieve a legislative remedy for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program will slide into next year, Gutiérrez told The Hill. “There are 240 Republicans in charge of the House, and a majority of the Senate, and they control the White House. They’re in charge,” Gutiérrez said during an interview for The Hill’s “Power Politics” podcast. “If a budget doesn’t get enacted, it’s because Republicans didn’t do their job, not Democrats,” he said, defending his party against accusations that it is seeking to shutter the government if Democrats cannot negotiate with Republicans on a deal for DACA and other policy concessions. Republican leaders have said they want to find a solution before hundreds of thousands of DACA recipients become eligible for deportation at a Trump-imposed deadline in early March. But Democrats have pushed for a DACA bill well before then, hoping to tie it to must-pass spending legislation before the end of 2017, something GOP leaders have continued to resist. The immigration dilemma is just one of a handful of pressure points left outstanding next week as the GOP races to enact their sweeping tax bill and fund the ... Link to the full article to read more