The looming shutdown of the federal government Friday, and a broken Congressional deal over Dreamers, reached into the Colorado House Friday morning.

The House debated over a resolution asking Congress to come up with permanent solution for those under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.

President Donald Trump overturned an executive order from 2012 that set up the program, which allows those who came to the United States as children to apply for legal residency. Trump gave Congress until March 5 to authorize the program. The program includes more than 17,000 Coloradans.

Friday’s resolution in the Colorado House noted that the majority of Americans support giving Dreamers the chance to stay in the United States permanently. “We cannot negotiate on the backs of children,” said co-sponsor Rep. Adrienne Benavidez of Denver. “We cannot quash their hopes for something they never did.”

House Democrats made the decision to offer the resolution late Thursday, after a hoped-for deal in Washington to authorize DACA fell apart. A resolution to continue funding the federal government for another month, passed in the U.S. House on Thursday, included an extension of the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) until 2023, but action on DACA did not make it into the resolution.

At least three Republican senators vowed not to vote for the continuing resolution, including Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. With Sen. John McCain absent as he recuperates from cancer, that leaves the Senate majority several votes short needed to pass the continuing resolution without help from Senate Democrats. And without a deal on DACA, that’s unlikely to happen.

The resolution in the Colorado House Friday wasn’t only about DACA, according to House Republicans. Minority Leader Rep. Patrick Neville of Castle Rock blasted House Democrats for not giving his side of the aisle “considerable advance notice” that the resolution was coming. “I’m disappointed,” Neville said. He pointed out that just  10 days ago, Speaker of the House Crisanta Duran of Denver had said the House had proved it was not like Washington, D.C. That’s no longer the case, according to Neville, who said he was notified that the resolution was coming at 7:40 p.m. Thursday night.

Democrats countered that the resolution was drafted late Thursday, after it was obvious the Washington deal on DACA had collapsed, so the ability to give that “considerable advance notice” just didn’t exist.

Neville also pointed out that the House has no legal authority to do anything about the DACA issue. “We’re talking about this because someone lost an election in 2016,” he said.

“It’s about taking care of these children who are scared out of their minds,” said Rep. Jovan Melton of Aurora. “I wish this resolution wasn’t necessary and that Washington would do their jobs. But it’s our job to speak for our constituents.”

Addressing the last-minute resolution, Rep. Paul Rosenthal of Denver said it might be inconvenient, but “this is an emergency for our country. Sometimes we have to do things in an emergency…When we’re talking about DACA, it’s not just four letters. It’s about children.”

“This is our Ralph Carr moment. This is our Martin Luther King, Jr. moment,” said Rep. Dan Pabon of Denver. “It is only our children’s lives that we are concerned about, our most vulnerable in our state.” Pabon also said he would support the resolution, “if we have to bring it tomorrow, or the next day, or the next.”

No other Republicans spoke on the resolution, although a dozen Democrats did. A half-dozen visitors, including several Dreamers, witnessed the debate, guests of Duran.

The House took a voice vote on the resolution, which doesn’t officially record who votes for or against, although a few “no” votes were heard coming from the Republican side of the aisle.