Thread: Seeds for Immigration Policy Debate Could Be Planted in Spen

Seeds for Immigration Policy Debate Could Be Planted in Spending Markup

Congressional Quarterly Today
June 5, 2009 Friday
By Rob Margetta, CQ Staff

The markup of the House's Homeland Security appropriations bill could turn into the first proxy skirmish in an anticipated battle over comprehensive changes to immigration policy.

The draft that the Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee will take up is expected to hew closely to President Obama's $42.7 billion proposal, and Democrats on the panel say their priorities are reflected in the $1.4 billion included in the request for capturing and deporting illegal aliens who have committed crimes, as well as in recent guidance from the Department of Homeland Security prioritizing a crackdown on employers of illegal immigrants.

"I think the new administration has picked up on this very nicely," said Subcommittee Chairman David E. Price, D-N.C. "I'm sure they have their own reasons, but I think they've also picked up on the direction we've charted over the past couple of years."

Price, who called Obama's request a "reasonable budget proposal," said appropriators are doing what they can to drive the immigration debate.

"We know we're not writing comprehensive immigration policy, and we need comprehensive immigration reform in this country," he said. "We can't do that from appropriations alone. What we can do, though, is point in certain directions."

But Republicans on the subcommittee have taken issue with this approach.

"There is obviously a shift in priority on illegal aliens," said ranking Republican Harold Rogers of Kentucky.

Certain DHS policies on illegal immigration -- such as the longtime practice of providing temporary work permits to detained illegal immigrants who can serve as witnesses against their employers -- amount to "de facto amnesty," Rogers said. He predicted that the department would shift financial and personnel resources away from workplace raids.

Republicans also will take issue if the draft bill reflects Obama's requested increases for Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano's office and DHS management programs, he said.

"I am concerned that the budget request would give a 30 percent increase in administrative expenses, creating several new policy offices, and yet the front-line agencies like Coast Guard and [Customs and Border Protection] only receive inflationary gains and actually some reductions in the funding for the acquisition of vital ships and aircraft," Rogers said. "That strikes me right off the top."

The panel's Democrats and Republicans, however, are likely to stand together to increase grant money above Obama's request -- an issue on which they have traditionally found common ground. The draft bill will probably break from his plan to cut 70 percent from a firefighter grant program used to fund purchases of trucks and other items. DHS has said the request trimmed that program to $170 million to free up funding for hiring and training fire department personnel.

But that explanation has gained little traction on the subcommittee. Price has criticized the proposed cut, saying his panel puts a priority on aid to state and local emergency responders.

The markup is scheduled for 5 p.m. Monday in B-308 Rayburn.

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Illegals are the big pink elephant that have not only taken over the room but have squeezed the American people out of our own country!

Our enemies are going to use the cost of enforcing our laws and incarceration of illegals to say that we will not only save money but increase our tax base by giving illegals Amnesty.

We all know that the cost of illegals being given Amnesty far surpasses the small amount of taxes they would pay into the system. Illegals should never be given Amnesty. Illegals must leave our country.