Today, the House Appropriations Committee adopted Rep. Pete Aguilar’s amendment allowing recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) Program, also known as Dreamers, to work in the United States Congress.

“Dreamers love America as much as any American and they want to pursue careers in public service, giving back to their communities and shaping the future of our country,” Rep. Aguilar said. “I’m grateful to my Appropriations Committee colleagues for supporting my amendment today, and I urge all my colleagues in the House to support this commonsense policy change. We want to ensure that truly the best and brightest job applicants have a chance to serve the United States and Dreamers should not be excluded. The best time to pursue this policy change was a decade ago. The second-best time is now.”

The amendment was introduced at the full Appropriations Committee markup of the Fiscal Year 2026 (FY26) Legislative Branch funding bill, passing by a bipartisan vote of 32 to 29. 

Rep. Aguilar previously introduced this amendment in FY24 and FY25. The funding bill will now be voted on by the House of Representatives. 

The DACA Program is a temporary program enacted in 2012 under the Obama Administration that provides immigrants brought to America as children with protection from deportation and work authorization. Since its enactment, DACA has allowed more than 800,000 DACA recipients to live and work in the United States. 

Rep. Aguilar serves as Chair of the House Democratic Caucus and as a member of the House Committee on Appropriations.