With Republicans dreaming of a tax bill in their stockings by the holidays, business leaders are still hoping for a clean Dream Act by Christmas. And so are the immigrants shielded from deportation by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.

But Colorado business leaders are still optimistic Congress will pass the bipartisan Dream Act, co-sponsored by Colorado Sens. Cory Gardner and Michael Bennet, before a budget deal and without a threatened federal government shutdown over the fate of so-called Dreamers.

“You’ll see folks like Congressman [Mike] Coffman and [Scott] Tipton and others come on board, because this is meaningful in not only Coffman’s district in CD6 but also just as important to Tipton [CD3], [Ken] Buck [CD4] and [Doug] Lamborn [CD5] across the state,” Colorado Business Roundtable President Jeff Wasden said of the state’s four GOP House members.

Activists fighting for protections for the nearly 800,000 young people brought to the United States illegally by their parents at a very young age want Democrats to dig in over the expiring budget deal. The  DACA program ends on March 5.

But business groups say far too many Dreamers will lose their deportation protection and work authorizations if Congress waits until the spring, and that the budget should not include additional immigration enforcement dollars that could be used to deport Dreamers who on average came to the U.S. at 6 years old and for the most part know no other country.

“There are already Dreamers who have lost their DACA protections and who have lost their work authorizations and are now subject to deportation,” said Peter Boogaard, communications director for the tech industry lobbying group FWD.us. “That’s thousands of people who have already been impacted and thousands more are going to be impacted by March.”

A spokesman for Gardner, asked about Trump administration indications the budget deal needs to include border wall and stepped enforcement funding in exchange for DACA renewal, pointed to the senator’s sponsorship of a clean Dream Act.

“Sen. Gardner is a sponsor of the Dream Act, so yes, he supports the legislation passing as it’s written,” said Gardner press secretary Casey Contres.

“Colorado is home to 17,300 Dreamers,” Wasden said. “We stand to lose $856.9 million in annual GDP if Dreamers are removed from the Colorado workforce. In contrast, if Congress acts, we could have potentially 34,000 individuals in the workforce be eligible through the passage of Dream Act legislation that would increase our GDP by $438 million over time.”

On Colorado’s Western Slope, Chris Romer, president and CEO of the Vail Valley Partnership, said studies show that in Tipton’s 3rd Congressional District the removal of DACA recipients from the workforce would cost more than $95 million in annual GDP, impacting rural and mountain resort counties with unemployment rates below 2 percent.

“It’s very realistic that we can get Rep. Tipton on board with this because of the bipartisan aspect of it, but specifically the business voice,” Romer said. “There are business leaders across Colorado, from chamber groups and other industry sectors, who are reaching out and encouraging this legislation to pass.”

Unlike Coffman in the more diverse 6th Congressional District, Tipton has yet to put his name on any of the various DACA-protection bills, but the former small business owner from Cortez has indicated his compassion for Dreamers and his willingness to work on the issue in Congress. He also doesn’t want to see a government shutdown over DACA.

“Congressman Tipton does not believe that a government shutdown is in anyone’s best interest, and he hopes his colleagues on both sides of the aisle can come together on a long-term funding bill so they can continue to work towards a commonsense solution for DACA recipients,” Tipton communications director Kelsey Mix said.

Democrat Diane Mitsch Bush, a former state lawmaker seeking the Democratic nomination to run against Tipton in CD3, compares DACA to the congressional inaction on the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) that will soon start costing states like Colorado. She too does not favor a shutdown showdown over DACA.

“I would rather not go that route; why not have a bill?” Mitsch Bush said. “We’ve known about this for months – similar to the fact we’ve known about CHIP ending Sept. 30 for months. It’s irresponsible not to at least move on these issues, and shutting down the government hurts an awful of people – in fact it hurts the same people getting hurt from the failure to fund CHIP.”

FWD’s Boogaard argues it wouldn’t really be the Democrats doing the shutting down if there’s a December DACA stalemate.

“The Republicans control all three branches of government,” Boogaard said. “Democrats are advocating on behalf of an issue that they care a lot about on behalf of individuals who have spent the vast majority of their lives here in this country.”

President Donald Trump earlier this week accused Democratic leadership of wanting a “flood of illegal immigrants” and openly questioned whether a budget deal could be done. But an increasing number of Republicans have indicated they want a DACA fix sooner rather than later.

DACA recipients have registered with the federal government, stayed out of legal trouble, been vetted by criminal background checks and legally work and study in communities across Colorado and the United States. Ninety-one percent of them are gainfully employed and paying taxes.

“Right now, in 2017, we have the second lowest rate of unemployment in the United States here in Colorado, and we think making sure young people who have been trained in our schools and understand how business is done in Colorado should be able to remain here with their families and pay taxes,” said Mizraim Cordero, vice president of Government Affairs for the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce.