SENATE IMMIGRATION BILL PREVAILS, PASSES
The Democrat-controlled House sends President Donald Trump a bipartisan, Senate-drafted, $4.6 billion measure to care for migrant refugees at the southern border, with liberals losing to Trump, the GOP-held Senate and Democratic moderates.
WA SHINGTON» The Democratic-controlled House voted Thursday to send President Donald Trump a bipartisan, Senate-drafted, $4.6 billion measure to care for migrant refugees detained at the southern border, capping a Washington skirmish in which die-hard liberals came out on the losing end in a battle with the White House, the GOP-held Senate and Democratic moderates.
The emergency legislation, required to ease crowded, harsh conditions at U.S. holding facilities for people seeking asylum, mostly from Central American nations such as Honduras and El Salvador, passed by a bipartisan 305-102 vote. Trump has indicated he will sign it into law.
“A great job done by all!” Trump tweeted from his overseas trip.
Ninety-five Democrats opposed the bill, reluctantly brought to a vote by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., after her plan to further strengthen rules for treatment of migrant refugees ran into intractable opposition from Republican lawmakers and Vice President Mike Pence. Many moderate Democrats split with Pelosi as well, undercutting her efforts, which faded shortly after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said he would swiftly reject them.
The legislation contains more than $1 billion to shelter and feed migrants detained by the border patrol and almost $3 billion to care for unaccompanied migrant children who are turned over the Department of Health and Human Services. It rejects an administration request for additional Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention beds, however, and contains provisions designed to prevent federal immigration agents from going after people living in the country illegally who seek to care for unaccompanied children.
The funding is urgently needed to prevent the humanitarian emergency on the U.S.-Mexico border from worsening. The government had warned that money would run out in a matter of days.
The Senate bill passed Wednesday by an 84-8 vote, with Democrats there pleased with the deal they cut with Republicans controlling the chamber.
The measure initially accepted only reluctantly by the White House — which complained about elimination of the request for detention bed for immigrants facing removal from the U.S. — but GOP support grew after the measure presented an opportunity to outmaneuver Pelosi. Just seven Republicans opposed the bill.
“We could have done so much better,” Pelosi said in a floor speech. Earlier, Pelosi pushed a plan to pingpong the Senatepassed bill right back across the Capitol with provisions requiring more stringent care requirements for detained migrant families and other steps.
But confronted with splintering unity in the Democratic rank and file and intractable opposition from McConnell, Pelosi changed course.