The U.S. House of Representatives passed the modified spending package on Tuesday, which the Senate had handed them on Friday. The move ended the government shutdown that kicked in on Saturday, which most people weren't even aware of. More than that, it marks the first time that Congress has managed to do its job and pass a plan for the upcoming fiscal year without being in a major state of stopgap crisis.
The only catch is that the spending bill funds almost the entirety of the U.S. government — except for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The Senate punted on the funding that the House had put in place in its first bill. Senate Republicans made the acquiescence to placate their Democrat colleagues, who then got on board — the upper chamber passed the altered bill on Friday by a healthy vote of 71-29.
Conservatives in the House were not pleased to see their hard work undone on the matter of fully funding the Trump administration as it seeks to enforce U.S. immigration law. But in the end, enough House Republicans stayed the course, and enough Democrats crossed over to vote with them, that the modified bill passed the lower chamber. The final tally for passage was 217-214, with 21 Republicans crossing party lines to vote against it while 21 Democrats voted for it.
“The Senate should have passed what we sent them,” grumbled Rep. Michael Cloud (R-Texas) to The Daily Signal. “Unfortunately, they’re trying to use [immigration] as a political football to score points.” And freshman Rep. Tom Barrett (R-Mich.) told the outlet, “It obviously wasn’t our preferred choice of things, but we’re not the only chamber in the Capitol.”
Nonetheless, the spending package will fund the vast majority of the government through September of this year. President Donald Trump is expected to sign it promptly, and it will be all over except for the fight over homeland security funding. DHS will run out of funding on Feb. 13, and Congressional Democrats are demanding immigration enforcement policy concessions to keep them from filibustering passage of the smaller spending bill.
First and foremost, Democrats are demanding that Border Patrol, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and other federal agents go maskless when they are at work. This is obviously a non-starter, as the Democrats' howling street mobs have shown themselves willing and able to dox officers, putting them and their innocent families at grave risk of violence. This impasse should be easily solvable by simply having officers wear their badge numbers on their uniforms, so that it is possible to follow up on any truly egregious behavior. Hopefully, such a compromise will give Democrat lawmakers enough cover to buck their bloodthirsty base.
Democrats also want body-worn cameras on agents, and I fervently hope this happens quickly. Republicans can make good use of the agent's-eye-view footage these will yield when it's time to cut midterm election ads. Finally, the donkeys will also try to move the legal goalpost, forcing DHS to get explicit permission from activist judges to do their jobs. Hopefully, this demand will go down in flames.
House Republicans appear sanguine about ultimately securing funding for homeland security — largely because the president himself is expected to be the chief negotiator to get it done.
“We will keep the wheels of progress turning and let the president do what he does best, and that’s negotiate a final deal on his signature issue,” Rep. Lisa McClain (R-Mich.) explained. “If anyone can get this deal done that is going to crack down on illegal criminal aliens to protect our community, that’s going to be President Donald J. Trump.”
“They’re negotiating with the president on this, and I think he’s obviously established credibility on immigration enforcement,” Barrett said.
Indeed, Trump reportedly whipped some of the House votes himself to get the main spending bill passed. And on Monday, when some more conservative House members began talking about demanding riders on the bill, he posted “NO CHANGES at this time” on social media.
DHS funding is ultimately going to happen. "House Republicans […] feel the cards are stacked when it comes to immigration, thanks to a party-line July budget reconciliation bill which has already provided billions to DHS’ deportation efforts," the Signal reminds us:
“You’re not defunding ICE. ICE is funded,” Moore told The Daily Signal. “This is going to hurt TSA, this is going to hurt the Coast Guard, and this is going to hurt FEMA when we have a bunch of storms rolling in here this winter.”
There's also always the option of using sheer force:
Cloud said that Republicans also have the option of passing another party-line bill to fund immigration law enforcement outside of the appropriations process.
“It’s certainly an option that’s on the table,” Cloud said of another reconciliation bill. “Not to mention… through the One Big Beautiful Bill [Act] we’ve already funded what their supposed main objection is, so it’s political posturing.”
I'm sure the president knows what he's doing. As a lifelong businessman with actual real-world experience, he can be expected to negotiate rings around hysterical, posturing Congressional Democrats.
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