Thread: House approves bipartisan border funding bill after Pelosi reverses course under GOP

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House approves bipartisan border funding bill, after Pelosi reverses course under GOP pressure

By Adam Shaw | Fox News


Pelosi reportedly facing revolt from progressive Democrats over border funding bill

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi reportedly had a tense meeting with Democrats who feel the emergency border funding bill does not do enough to address the humanitarian crisis.



A coalition of moderate Democrats and Republicans approved crucial border funding legislation late Thursday in the House, sending the $4.6 billion bill to President Trump's desk for his expected signature -- after Speaker Nancy Pelosi backed down from a push to include restrictions on immigration enforcement that could have scuttled the measure.

In doing so, Pelosi risked a severe backlash from the progressive base calling for those measures, convinced that so-called "guardrails" must be imposed to prevent alleged abuses by border officials.

But the speaker agreed to bring the bipartisan Senate-passed bill to a vote, without such restrictions, following intense pressure from Republicans and moderates in her own party.

The Senate had demonstrated that bipartisan support by approving the bill 84-8 a day earlier, after rejecting an earlier House version.

SENATE OKS BIPARTISAN BORDER BILL AFTER REJECTING 'POISON PILL' HOUSE VERSION, AS CLOCK TICKS

While liberal members wanted to put restrictions back in the Senate bill, members were running up against a deadline with the July 4 recess about to begin. In explaining her decision, Pelosi cited the urgent need to get funding to help children caught in the humanitarian crisis at the southern border.

“In order to get resources to the children fastest, we will reluctantly pass the Senate bill. As we pass the Senate bill, we will do so with a Battle Cry as to how we go forward to protect children in a way that truly honors their dignity and worth,” she wrote in a letter to colleagues.

The bill passed 305-102.

The decision is sure to fuel new unrest inside the caucus.

Perhaps the most outspoken member of the progressive wing, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., had declared "Hell no" to voting on the Senate bill.

"That’s an abdication of power we should refuse to accept.

They will keep hurting kids if we do," she tweeted.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

✔@AOC

Under no circumstances should the House vote for a McConnell-only bill w/ no negotiation with Democrats. Hell no.

That’s an abdication of power we should refuse to accept. They will keep hurting kids if we do.

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12:23 PM - Jun 27, 2019

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Measures sought by liberal members included those 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.

But the House vote would still ease a cash crunch at federal agencies that care for migrants that have flocked over the border in huge numbers seeking asylum. Vivid and painful accounts of harsh, even dangerous conditions at badly overcrowded federal facilities that house and care for thousands of migrants added to the pressure to act.

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The rapid-fire sequence of events Thursday afternoon came after Republicans persistently called on House Democrats to pass the Senate bill in its “clean” form, noting that the White House said it would sign that bill. 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 earlier Thursday 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.”

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“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.

Donald J. Trump

✔@realDonaldTrump


The Republican Senate just passed bipartisan humanitarian assistance for our Southern Border, 84-8! In addition to aid, Congress must close the catastrophic loopholes that are driving the Crisis. We must end incentives for Smuggling Children, Trafficking Women, and Selling Drugs.

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2:47 PM - Jun 26, 2019
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“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.”

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/rep...-senate-border

House Passes Senate Version Of New Funding To Ease Border Crisis

June 27, 20195:32 PM ET
VANESSA ROMO Twitter



Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California walks to the House floor Thursday. In a letter to Democratic lawmakers she announced the House would "reluctantly" pass a Senate version of an emergency immigration aid package.


Alex Brandon/AP

Updated 5:58 p.m. ET

After a brief showdown over competing emergency humanitarian aid measures to alleviate the crisis at the southern border, the House voted 305-102 on Thursday to pass the Senate's less restrictive version of the bill.

The Senate had approved the legislation Wednesday. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said President Trump supports the bill.

The vote marked a serious setback for Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi who had vowed not to accept the Republican-led Senate's legislation, which liberal Democrats argued lacked vital migrant protections and caps on how long unaccompanied children can be detained.

But by midday Thursday, it was clear Pelosi could not maintain consensus among Democratic House members. In a letter to fellow party lawmakers she announced the chamber would "reluctantly" take up and pass the Senate bill.

"In order to get resources to the children fastest, we will reluctantly pass the Senate bill," she wrote.

"As we pass the Senate bill, we will do so with a Battle Cry as to how we go forward to protect children in a way that truly honors their dignity and worth," Pelosi added.

Pelosi eventually acquiesced, conceding she needed to bring the Senate bill up for a vote, after a private conversation with Vice President Pence. He agreed to administrative changes House Democrats were seeking, according to one of Pence's aides who asked not to be named. The administration will notify Congress within 24 hours if a child dies in custody and children will be kept no longer than 90 days at emergency facilities.

The package provides $4.6 billion in funding, including money for the Department of Defense and Immigration and Customs Enforcement that some House Democrats opposed.

The majority of the money is humanitarian aid to be allocated to the Department of Health and Human Services for the the Office of Refugee Resettlement.

Trump and Senate Republicans were not interested in negotiating, and a block of moderate House Democrats announced they would support the Senate bill, ultimately forcing the speaker's hand.

Pressure to pass an aid package to deal with overcrowded and filthy facilities, and to provide adequate care for a burgeoning population of unaccompanied minors who are detained for weeks in temporary shelters has intensified over the last week following reports from lawyers who visited the children.

In addition, pressure came from publication of a photograph depicting a father and his toddler daughter, drowned and lying face down in the Rio Grande, trying to reach the United States.

Lawmakers are set to recess for the July Fourth holiday and were aiming to get the measure enacted before they left.

https://www.npr.org/2019/06/27/73672...-border-crisis

PROTECT CHILDREN?

YOU ARE A DISPICABLE CREATURE FROM THE SWAMP!

LET THEIR PRESIDENT PROTECT THEIR CHILDREN WHILE YOU ALLOW THE MURDER OF OUR CHILDREN, IN COLD BLOOD, BY ILLEGAL ALIENS!

WHILE PELOSI ALLOWS OUR CHILDREN TO SLEEP IN THE STREETS IN SQUALOR AND FECES!

PELOSI IS A NASTY OLD WOMAN WHO NEEDS TO STEP DOWN!

TEXT of bill (Might not be final version.)

https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-...%5D%7D&r=1&s=1

House sends Trump $4.6B border bill, yielding to Senate - AP News

https://www.apnews.com/6fb698358db346e4b47183ffe0fef8b6

1 hour ago - Trump has indicated he'll sign it into law. ...