A legislative solution to the administration’s decision to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program should be considered separately from a year-end spending bill, Speaker Paul D. Ryan said Thursday.

The speaker declined to accelerate a March deadline.

“I think it should be considered separately on its own merits,” the Wisconsin Republican said when asked whether a DACA fix might get attached to a fiscal 2018 spending bill that Congress needs to pass by Dec. 8.

Ryan would not commit to bringing a DACA measure to the floor before the end of the year, something that a group of moderate House Republicans requested Thursday. Democrats have also said they insist Congress pass something before Christmas. 

“I don’t think there’s need to have artificial deadlines within the ones we already have,” Ryan said, referring to the effective March deadline President Donald Trump and his administration created with their six-month wind down of DACA.

Ryan said work on a DACA fix is underway, citing a House working group that meets regularly on the matter. The speaker also said he met recently with Senate Republicans who have formed their own working group.