WASHINGTON — Congressional leaders who hoped to strike a deal on immigration reform before the end of the year faced difficult odds to push proposals through for votes.
Democrats saw the lame-duck session between the election and the start of the new Congress as the last chance to pass significant legislation before losing their majority in the House. Among the immigration-related legislation considered were bills that would have offered pathways to citizenship for so-called Dreamers, for farmworkers and for Afghans evacuated to the U.S. since last year; and another that would have removed caps on the number of green cards granted each year to people from any given country.
As of Wednesday night, none of the bills had advanced.
