Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility

US Consumer Spending Falls as Trump Tariff’s Muddle Economy

7 hours ago

US Supreme Court Lets Parents Take Kids Out of Classes With LGBT Storybooks

8 hours ago

In Win for Trump, US Supreme Court Limits Judges’ Power to Block Birthright Citizenship Order

10 hours ago

California’s Newsom Sues Fox News for $787 Million for Defamation Over Trump Call

10 hours ago

Motorcycle Collides With Tractor in Fatal Fresno County Collision

10 hours ago

Fourth of July Celebrations Begin Saturday. Here’s Your Fresno Area Guide

12 hours ago

Bill Moyers, Broadcaster and LBJ’s White House Press Secretary, Dies at 91

1 day ago

State Department Approves $30 Million for Gaza Humanitarian Foundation

1 day ago

Cargo Ship That Caught Fire Carrying Electric Vehicles Sinks in the Pacific

1 day ago

4 Million Acres of California Forests Could Lose Protection. What Trump’s ‘Roadless Rule’ Repeal Could Do

2 days ago
Time Running Short, Showdown Looms Over Border Aid Package
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 6 years ago on
June 26, 2019

Share

WASHINGTON — A House-passed $4.5 billion emergency border aid package faces a dim future in the GOP-held Senate, the chamber’s top Republican said Wednesday, as pressure builds to wrap up the measure before the government runs out of money to care for thousands of migrant families and unaccompanied children.

“It’s a go-nowhere proposal filled with poison pill riders which the president has indicated he would veto. They had to drag their bill way to the left to earn the support of most Democrats. As a result, the House has not made much progress toward actually making a law, just more resistance theater.” — Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell
The House passed its version with relative ease — but along party lines — Tuesday night after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi quelled a mini-revolt by progressives and Hispanic lawmakers who won relatively modest changes to the legislation. The funding is urgently needed to prevent the humanitarian emergency on the U.S.-Mexico border from worsening.
The 230-195 House vote sets up a showdown with the Republican-led Senate, which may try instead to force Democrats to send President Donald Trump a different, and broadly bipartisan, companion measure in coming days as the chambers race to finish the must-do legislation by the end of the week.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said the House bill is a dead letter in the Senate.
“It’s a go-nowhere proposal filled with poison pill riders which the president has indicated he would veto,” McConnell said Tuesday. “They had to drag their bill way to the left to earn the support of most Democrats. As a result, the House has not made much progress toward actually making a law, just more resistance theater.”

More Than $1 Billion to Shelter, Feed Migrants

McConnell appears to face two basic options: Trying to “jam” the House with the Senate measure or accepting some changes sought by Democrats and avoiding a fight with Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.
“The Senate has a good bill. Our bill is much better,” Pelosi, D-Calif., told her Democratic colleagues in a meeting Tuesday morning.
“We passed a great bill so just go tell the Senate that they should pass the same bill,” House Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., said Wednesday. Turning more serious, Lowey acknowledged that the congressional endgame on the measure “is really not clear right now.”
The House bill 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 seeks to mandate improved standards of care at HHS “influx shelters” that house children waiting to be placed with sponsors such as family members in the U.S.
Both House and Senate bills ensure funding could not be shifted to Trump’s border wall and would block information on sponsors of immigrant children from being used to deport them. Trump would be denied additional funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention beds.
“The President’s cruel immigration policies that tear apart families and terrorize communities demand the stringent safeguards in this bill to ensure these funds are used for humanitarian needs only — not for immigration raids, not detention beds, not a border wall,” said House Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Nita Lowey, D-N.Y.

 

White House Has Threatened to Veto House Bill

Only three House Republicans backed the measure. The only four Democratic “no” votes came from some of the party’s most left-leaning freshmen women: Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Ihan Omar of Minnesota, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan.
The White House has threatened to veto the House bill, saying it would hamstring the administration’s border security efforts, and is only reluctantly backing the Senate measure — which received only a single “nay” vote during a committee vote last week.
Congress plans to leave Washington in a few days for a weeklong July 4 recess, and pressure is intense to wrap up the legislation before then. Agencies are about to run out of money and failure to act could bring a swift political rebuke and accusations of ignoring the plight of innocent immigrant children.
Lawmakers’ sense of urgency to provide humanitarian aid was amplified by recent reports of gruesome conditions in a windowless Border Patrol station in Clint, Texas, where more than 300 infants and children were being housed. Many were kept there for weeks and were caring for each other in conditions that included inadequate food, water and sanitation.
By Tuesday, most had been sent elsewhere. The incident was only an extreme example of the dire conditions reported at numerous locations where detainees have been held, and several children have died in U.S. custody.

Children Have Been Held Under Harsh Conditions

The Border Patrol reported apprehending nearly 133,000 people last month — including many Central American families — as monthly totals have begun topping 100,000 for the first time since 2007. Federal agencies involved in immigration have reported being overwhelmed, depleting their budgets and housing large numbers of detainees in structures meant for handfuls of people.

The Border Patrol reported apprehending nearly 133,000 people last month — including many Central American families — as monthly totals have begun topping 100,000 for the first time since 2007.
Changes unveiled Tuesday would require the Department of Homeland Security to establish new standards for care of unaccompanied immigrant children and a plan for ensuring adequate translators to assist migrants in their dealings with law enforcement. The government would have to replace contractors who provide inadequate care.
Many children detained entering the U.S. from Mexico have been held under harsh conditions, and Customs and Border Protection Chief Operating Officer John Sanders told The Associated Presslast week that children have died after being in the agency’s care. He said Border Patrol stations are holding 15,000 people — more than triple their maximum capacity of 4,000.
Sanders announced Tuesday that he’s stepping down next month amid outrage over his agency’s treatment of detained migrant children.
In a letter Monday threatening the veto, White House officials told lawmakers they objected that the House package lacked money for beds the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency needs to let it detain more migrants. Officials also complained in the letter that the bill had no money to toughen border security, including funds for building Trump’s proposed border wall.

DON'T MISS

What Are Fresno Real Estate Experts Predicting for 2025 and Beyond?

DON'T MISS

First California EV Mandates Hit Automakers This Year. Most Are Not Even Close

DON'T MISS

Trump Sends in DOGE to Slash Federal Gun Regulations by July 4

DON'T MISS

Tensions Flare at Announcement of Major Fresno County Gang Takedown

DON'T MISS

Measure C ‘Blackmailed’ As Fresno Enviro Coalition Gets Huge Say on Transportation Tax

DON'T MISS

Despite $49M Deficit, Fresno Unified Gives Top Brass 5% Raise, 3% One-Time Bonus

DON'T MISS

US Consumer Spending Falls as Trump Tariff’s Muddle Economy

DON'T MISS

US Supreme Court Preserves Key Element of Obamacare

DON'T MISS

US Supreme Court Lets Parents Take Kids Out of Classes With LGBT Storybooks

DON'T MISS

Fresno Unified Trustees Will Get Automatic Raises on Tuesday

DON'T MISS

Alleged ‘Fake’ ICE Agents Charged. Fresno Court Date Set

DON'T MISS

In Win for Trump, US Supreme Court Limits Judges’ Power to Block Birthright Citizenship Order

UP NEXT

Bill Moyers, Broadcaster and LBJ’s White House Press Secretary, Dies at 91

UP NEXT

Trump Says a Deal Related to Trade Was Signed With China on Wednesday

UP NEXT

State Department Approves $30 Million for Gaza Humanitarian Foundation

UP NEXT

No Known Intelligence That Iran Moved Uranium, US Defense Chief Says

UP NEXT

Israel Says Iran’s Supreme Leader Avoided Assassination by Going Underground

UP NEXT

Tesla Executive, Elon Musk Confidant Leaves EV Maker, Bloomberg News Reports

UP NEXT

Cargo Ship That Caught Fire Carrying Electric Vehicles Sinks in the Pacific

UP NEXT

How the United States Helped Create Iran’s Nuclear Program

UP NEXT

Israel Halts Aid Into Gaza, Official Says, Clans Deny Hamas Is Stealing It

UP NEXT

Israeli Settlers Raid West Bank Town, Troops Kill 3 Palestinians

Despite $49M Deficit, Fresno Unified Gives Top Brass 5% Raise, 3% One-Time Bonus

5 hours ago

US Consumer Spending Falls as Trump Tariff’s Muddle Economy

7 hours ago

US Supreme Court Preserves Key Element of Obamacare

8 hours ago

US Supreme Court Lets Parents Take Kids Out of Classes With LGBT Storybooks

8 hours ago

Fresno Unified Trustees Will Get Automatic Raises on Tuesday

9 hours ago

Alleged ‘Fake’ ICE Agents Charged. Fresno Court Date Set

10 hours ago

In Win for Trump, US Supreme Court Limits Judges’ Power to Block Birthright Citizenship Order

10 hours ago

California’s Newsom Sues Fox News for $787 Million for Defamation Over Trump Call

10 hours ago

Motorcycle Collides With Tractor in Fatal Fresno County Collision

10 hours ago

Ringo Is Ready to Rock Your World With ‘Pawsitive’ Vibes!

10 hours ago

Trump Sends in DOGE to Slash Federal Gun Regulations by July 4

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Government Efficiency has sent staff to the agency that enforces federal gun laws with the goal of revis...

3 hours ago

American Flag Revolver
3 hours ago

Trump Sends in DOGE to Slash Federal Gun Regulations by July 4

Rob_Bonta_Speaking_At_Press_Conference_1280x720
4 hours ago

Tensions Flare at Announcement of Major Fresno County Gang Takedown

Garry_Bredefeld_Sandra_Celedon_Mesure_C_1280x720
5 hours ago

Measure C ‘Blackmailed’ As Fresno Enviro Coalition Gets Huge Say on Transportation Tax

Fresno_Unified_Raises_1280x720
5 hours ago

Despite $49M Deficit, Fresno Unified Gives Top Brass 5% Raise, 3% One-Time Bonus

Eastern Market in Washington, D.C.
7 hours ago

US Consumer Spending Falls as Trump Tariff’s Muddle Economy

Obamacare Sign in San Ysidro, California
8 hours ago

US Supreme Court Preserves Key Element of Obamacare

Pride Flags Fly in New York
8 hours ago

US Supreme Court Lets Parents Take Kids Out of Classes With LGBT Storybooks

9 hours ago

Fresno Unified Trustees Will Get Automatic Raises on Tuesday

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend