NumbersUSA: House Leaders indicate possible amnesty votes in mid-March
House Leaders indicate possible amnesty votes in mid-March
Fri, Feb. 26th
The House could vote on pieces of the Biden Amnesty bill as early as mid-March, according to House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.). Hoyer indicated that House Leaders could start with votes on the Dream Act and the Farm Workforce Modernization Act -- both pieces of legislation passed the House during the previous Congress.
The Dream Act would grant an amnesty to approximately 2.9 million illegal aliens. And if it's the same bill as last Congress, it would also include a permanent amnesty for approximately 320,000 illegal aliens who received amnesty under Temporary Protected Status (TPS).
The Farm Workforce Modernization Act would grant an amnesty to at least 1 million illegal farm workers and their families in exchange for a requirement that Ag employers use E-Verify.
Meanwhile, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus is pushing House Leaders to bring the full Biden Amnesty bill -- the U.S. Citizenship Act -- to the floor by April 1, although Democratic Conference Chair Jim Clyburn (D-Md.) says that may not be possible.
Regardless, the big battleground will be in the Senate where all Democrats and at least 10 Senate Republicans would need to support any legislation in order to overcome a filibuster. Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), along with 25 original cosponsors, introduced the Senate version of the Biden Amnesty bill this week
COVID RELIEF HITS THE HOUSE FLOOR
The House of Representatives will vote today on budget reconciliation legislation that includes Pres. Biden's Covid relief bill. The bill is free of any bad immigration provisions, representing a victory for NumbersUSA activists!
Earlier this month, more than 100 House Democrats urged House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to include an amnesty for up to 5 million illegal aliens in the relief package. But moderate Democrats received enough pushback from their constituents that the amnesty didn't make it into the final version of the bill.
There was also some concern that the relief package would allow illegal aliens to receive stimulus checks. You may remember that the Senate voted a few weeks ago to first approve an amendment to prevent the bill from extending the payments to illegal aliens before reversing course. But the House version excludes "nonresident aliens" from receiving the checks and requires recipients to have a Social Security Number.
H.R. 1 ON THE HORIZON
The House is expected to take up H.R. 1, the For the People Act, next week. While the legislation does not deal directly with immigration, if passed and signed into law, it could have a significant impact on how NumbersUSA operates and your ability to communicate with your elected officials.
Here are just a few of the impacts that H.R. 1 could have on non-profit advocacy groups, including NumbersUSA:
- Restrict the ability to communicate with grassroots activists on legislation introduced in Congress;
- Restrict the ability to publish information on elected officials (This could potentially end NumbersUSA's immigration grade cards.);
- Restrict the ability to provide candidate comparisons for upcoming federal elections.
We've reposted a message on your Action Board that you can send to your Members of Congress, urging them to oppose H.R. 1. But please keep an eye out for additional action opportunities next week.
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Chris Chmielenski
NumbersUSA Deputy Director |
https://www.numbersusa.com/
