Senate passes $4.5B border bill, setting up fight with House
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
The Senate on Wednesday passed legislation to give President Trump billions of dollars in new border funding, setting up a clash with House Democrats, who passed their own version of the bill earlier this week.
Senators voted 84-8 on their $4.5 billion bill, which includes nearly $3 billion in humanitarian aid.
Sens. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Mike Lee (R-Utah), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Rand Paul (R-Ky.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) voted against the bill.
Lawmakers had hoped to get a bill to Trump’s desk before they leave for the July 4 recess. Leadership indicated after the Senate's vote that they would be talking about how to reconcile their bills, but absent an eleventh hour agreement the border funding is stalled until after the break.
Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) said he expected staff discussions and talks between the "four corners," leadership in both parties and both chambers, would start "soon."
"The House bill has got a lot of provisions that would not be conducive to a quick agreement," Shelby added. "We'll see if the corners fit; I hope they fit."
Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) added that he thought leadership and the White House could hold an "informal conference," that could potentially let them get a deal before lawmakers leave town.
"It would be an informal conference, maybe of the four appropriators or maybe of the four leaders," he said. "As soon as possible we should have it."
Though the House and Senate largely align on the top line figure for their border bill, they are divided over several hot button policy issues including Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Senate Republicans have indicated that they don't want to go to conference, despite the political and policy differences.
Sen. John Thune (S.D.), the No. 2 Senate Republican, told reporters both chambers going to conference, where they would hash out their differences, wasn’t a “viable” option.
"The House knows that they can't get a signature on their bill, and most of what they want is in our bill and ours is a bipartisan bill,” Thune said.
Sen. John Cornyn (Texas), a member of GOP leadership, called the House bill “inadequate,” adding, “if people are sincere ... then I don’t know why they would want to delay this.”
But House Democrats have shut down calls to take up and pass the Senate bill as it's currently written, with leadership arguing they have some changes they want in the final bill.
House Democrats passed their own border legislation Tuesday after days of public wrangling among the caucus about the details of the bill.
The House bill does not include any Defense Department funding. It also doesn’t include $61 million to address a pay shortfall or $3.7 million in overtime costs for ICE. It includes myriad restrictions on how funds can and cannot be used and reinstates hundreds of millions of dollars in aid to El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras after the administration slashed funding last week.
As part of an effort to win over more progressive support, House Democrats added a number of last minute provisions to their bill, including requiring Customs and Border Protection to enact health standards for individuals in custody, including implementing standards for both adults and children for “medical emergencies; nutrition, hygiene, and facilities; and personnel training.”
But the House bill cannot pass the Senate and has gotten a veto threat from the White House. To drive home the message, the Senate voted on the House-passed bill but it failed in an 37-55 vote.
The Senate also rejected an effort by Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) to require more than $4.5 billion in foreign assistance cuts to pay for the border legislation.
The White House's request included $3.3 billion for humanitarian aid, which the administration says would be used to increase shelters and care for unaccompanied minors, in addition to processing arrivals. They've also asked for roughly $1.1 billion for other border operations like expanding the number of detention beds and providing more investigation resources.
Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar pleaded with Congress during a Fox News interview earlier this month to pass new funding.
"We are running out of money. We are functionally out of space," he said. "Congress has got to pass a supplemental appropriation that President Trump has asked for."
But Congress appears poised to miss that deadline absent a late U-turn by House Democrats or a quick agreement by leadership to make changes to the Senate bill.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) told reporters on Wednesday that she would not move the Senate bill.
“They passed their bill, we respect that. We passed our bill, we hope they will respect that,” Pelosi said.
Schumer backed up Pelosi saying that he prefers the Senate bill, but if the Senate bill passes “there should be a quick conference.”
He said that Pelosi had asked for four changes, that he said were reasonable.
"They're basic checks so that DHS [the Department of Homeland Security] doesn't do the kinds of things that no one wants to see them do," Schumer said, while declining to discuss specifics.
Shelby warned that the differences between the two bills were significant, but that he wanted to see the details of what Pelosi is asking for.
"We heard it was a few," he said, "and then we were shown it was many."
Updated at 5:26 p.m.
BY JORDAIN CARNEY - 06/26/19 03:33 PM EDT
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"Senators voted 84-8 on their $4.5 billion bill, which includes nearly $3 billion in humanitarian aid."
That's truly a bipartisan bill. Pelosi did say she wouldn't allow House dems to vote on it, now she is looking to modify the Senate bill in the final hours before the House leaves for vacation.
Mitch McConnell may have done it again!
I don't think Pelosi will give a win to McConnell or Trump.
Unless she makes very minor changes that the Senate will not object to; the bill will not be done until well after they come back from break.
Look for Nancy to try and force a reconciliation bill at all costs.
In this case denying a win for McConnell means a loss for those moderates who won the House for democrats. If she put the Senate bill to a vote as is, many democrats would vote for it. It would pass the House. Americans are not stupid. Remember it was only days ago that she said she wouldn't put it up for a vote. Now she is talking modifications. It is a big call for her and the master of the long game put her in this spot!
Vic, I hope you are correct- I really do.
I will gladly admit to being wrong so long as the money gets to where it is needed and conditions improve.
But Nancy is a long time political hard ass herself. She has the hard left pulling against her continued control at the top. She wants to stay on top. Delaying the bill might not be that hard of a decision for her.
We will know soon enough
UPDATE:
Republicans on Thursday ramped up pressure on House Democrats to pass the Senate version of a $4.5 billion border bill to combat the humanitarian crisis at the southern border before Congress skips town for the July 4 recess, leading to tense scenes on the floor and confusion over what comes next.
The Senate approved its bipartisan bill 84-8 on Wednesday, minutes after it rejected the more liberal House version 55-37. But the bill faces significant hurdles in the House, particularly among the left-wing faction of the Democratic caucus, who fear it doesn’t do enough to prevent money from going to immigration enforcement.
While the Senate version contained some funding for Pentagon assistance to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the House bill contained neither. Republicans had accused Democrats of including “poison pill riders” in there as well, though progressive Democrats called them "guardrails."
House Democrats are now seeking changes but still deliberating over their next steps. They submitted an amendment to the Senate bill they say would improve care for migrant families and children.
They include measures to ensure the health and safety of those in custody, limit the amount of time unaccompanied minors can spend at an influx shelter to 90 days, and reduce funding for ICE by $81 million. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said in a statement that House Democrats want the two measures to be merged together in a conference committee.
“We are calling upon the Trump administration and the Senate to engage in an immediate conference to do the best we can for the children before we leave for the 4th of July,” she said. But it is not clear if Congress would have time to combine the bills before the recess.
Republicans appeared in no mood to play ball, and called on House Democrats to pass it in its “clean” form -- meaning, pass the Senate bill -- noting that the White House has said it would sign the Senate bill in its current form. The White House had threatened to veto the House version.
“The Shelby-Leahy legislation has unified the Appropriations Committee. It has unified the Senate. The administration would sign it into law,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said in a statement. “So all our House colleagues need to do to help the men, women, and children on the border this week is pass this unifying bipartisan bill and send it on to the president.”
The White House said in a statement that “the only ones delaying help for the children are the Democrats” and accused Democrats of having refused to work with Republicans.
“We have already negotiated a broadly supported bipartisan funding bill. It is time for House Democrats to pass the Senate bill and stop delaying funding to deal with this very real humanitarian crisis,” the statement said.
In an astonishing spectacle, dozens of Republicans lined up in the aisles to submit unanimous consent requests to take up the bill -- with each one being shut down each time by Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas
“This bipartisan bill passed the Senate with 84 votes and it could be sent to the president’s desk for his signature today,” each lawmaker said in turn.
“As the chair has previously advised the unanimous consent request cannot be entertained,” Jackson Lee said after each request.
Heated words were exchanged, with Rep. Paul Mitchell, R-Mich., accusing Democrats of having handed control to a small group of far-left lawmakers, and urging them to pass the Senate bill: "Unless you decide you’re going to turn over the gavel to a fragment of your conference to make decisions for you."
Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., shot back by accusing Republicans of engaging in “antics.”
“These kids that we are here to try and protect deserve more than grandstanding -- they deserve medicine, soap and clothing,” he said.
Pressure was increasing on lawmakers amid continued reports of poor and unsanitary conditions at detention centers. The publication of an image of a migrant and his daughter found drowned in the Rio Grande has only fueled the debate nationally.
Republicans, meanwhile, have continued to focus on closing loopholes that encourage migrants to make the perilous journey with children through Central America in order to be released into the U.S. It is those loopholes, they say, that have led to hundreds of thousands of migrants arriving at the border in recent months -- many of them family units.
“In addition to aid, Congress must close the catastrophic loopholes that are driving the Crisis,” Trump tweeted Wednesday. “We must end incentives for Smuggling Children, Trafficking Women, and Selling Drugs.”
CBS has actually reported that the Bill is on it's way to Trump for a signature an hour ago. Maybe they were premature.
posted an hour ago.
Gee I hate being right all the time!
Funny watching AOC throw a fit because McConnell killed a bill she voted against.
May she have many more fits!