Senior Senate Democrat Rejects Immigration Riders in House-Passed DHS Bill
The House passed the Department of Homeland Security appropriations bill on Jan. 14, with a tight vote 236-191, mostly along party lines. The chief House appropriator, Rep. Hal Rogers, R-Ky., introduced the bill in recent days, but the House-passed version includes amendments to scale back President Barack Obama’s executive action on immigration. Only 10 Republicans opposed the measure, while two Democrats supported the bill.
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DHS appropriations legislation provides CBP funding, and spending for the whole department is set to expire on Feb. 27. The House-passed bill gives the same funding to CBP included in the initial bill. Rogers touted the $10.7 billion for CBP in fiscal year 2015, as well as record appropriations levels for Border Patrol and CBP officers (see 1501120012).
The bill is now sent to the Senate, where Homeland Security ranking member Tom Carper, D-Del., urged his colleagues to reject the immigration-related amendments in the bill (here). “Unfortunately, instead of passing a straightforward, clean full-year funding bill for the Department, the House has sent the Senate a bill that includes a number of amendments aimed at undermining the President’s immigration policies,” said Carper. “These amendments will unfortunately jeopardize passage of the bill and threaten to prolong the debilitating budget uncertainty facing the Department of Homeland Security.”