(September 28) Before the August recess, the House passed several appropriations bills containing immigration-related measures (see below). Thus far, the Senate has taken up and passed only one of these bills - H.R. 2638, which funds the Department of Homeland Security (click here to view Senate action on the bill). As a result of the Senate’s slow pace, the House saw fit to pass a stopgap funding bill September 26, which will keep the Federal government running when the new fiscal year begins next Monday (October 1). If passed by the Senate, that measure would fund agencies through November 16.
In July, House Democrats and Republicans went toe-to-toe over a majority ruling that wrongly killed a motion to send the fiscal year 2008 agriculture appropriations bill (H.R. 3161) back to committee. That motion would have required that, when reported back to the House floor, the bill contain provisions prohibiting USDA from using funds appropriated by the measure to provide rental housing benefits and employment assistance to illegal aliens. Initially, the motion was adopted by two votes (214-212), but after Democratic leadership broke House rules and re-opened the vote, four House Democrats were pressured by their leadership into changing their votes to "no," thus allowing the motion to be defeated by a 212-216 margin. The bill subsequently passed the House by a 237-18 margin.
As reported to the House floor, the bill contains a provision offered by Rep. Jack Kingston (R-Ga.) requiring Federal government contractors to participate in the Basic Pilot program.
On July 26, the House of Representatives passed the commerce, justice, and science spending bill for fiscal year 2008 (H.R. 3093). During the floor debate on the bill, Members adopted, by voice vote, amendments:
- Sponsored by Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) that prohibits any of the funding provided for by the bill from being used to employ illegal aliens;
- Offered by Reps. Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.) and Ted Poe (R-Texas) preventing funds appropriated from being used to enforce the judgments or impose the sentences handed down against Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean was adopted by voice vote (former Border Patrol agents Ramos and Compean were convicted and sentenced to 11 and 12 years, respectively, for shooting at an illegal Mexican drug smuggler; they have been in Federal custody since January 17, 2007, and many believe they were unjustly prosecuted and given exceptionally harsh sentences);
- Mandating that the Commerce, Justice, and State Departments participate in the Basic Pilot program sponsored by Rep. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.V.); and
- Prohibiting appropriations from being made available to states and local jurisdictions that have adopted "sanctuary policies," sponsored by Rep. Thelma Drake (R-Va.).
The bill also now includes an increase in funding for the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program (SCAAP) – a program that provides assistance to states for the incarceration of illegal aliens who commit crimes – of $55 million. This amendment, sponsored by House immigration subcommittee chair Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) and Rules Committee chair David Dreier (R-Calif.), was adopted by a wide, bipartisan margin (388-39). As the bill came to the House floor from committee, it already contained the Kingston Basic Pilot provision described above.
On July 24, Members passed the transportation, housing and urban development appropriations bill (H.R. 3074).
During the debate, Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) offered a successful amendment to the transportation and housing bill (it was adopted by an overwhelming margin [362-63]) that prohibits any funds in the bill from being used to facilitate U.S. participation in the Security and Prosperity Partnership or to create an international highway between Mexico and Canada. The SPP – entered into by the heads of state of the U.S., Canada, and Mexico in 2005 – seeks to "streamline" movement across our borders and, as such, would eliminate the notion of "illegal immigration" and, consequently, would increase the inflow at our borders.
In addition, two amendments offered by Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) were adopted by voice vote. These proposals prohibit funds appropriated in the bill from being used to either employ illegal workers or to provide homeownership assistance to illegal aliens.
On July 19, the House passed (276 - 140) the FY 2008 appropriations bill for the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, which contains several immigration-related measures. The bill will now be sent to the Senate.
An amendment sponsored by Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-Ga.), which was adopted by a 254-168 margin, would prohibit the use of funds appropriated the bill from being used by the Social Security Administration (SSA) to pay its employees to administer benefit payments under a totalization agreement with Mexico, which would not otherwise be payable but for such an agreement. Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) was successful in sponsoring an amendment (adopted by voice vote) limiting agencies funded under the bill from using their funds to employ illegal aliens.
In addition, the bill contains the Kingston contractor restriction described above.
Previously, the House passed H.R. 2764, the Department of State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs appropriations bill for fiscal year 2008, by a 241-178 margin.
During debate on the measure, Members adopted, by voice vote, amendments to:
- Prohibit funds appropriated by this bill from being used to designate additional nations as program countries under the visa waiver program (sponsored by Rep. Phil Gingrey [R-Ga.]);
- Eliminate State Department funding for the visa lottery (sponsored by Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin [D-S.D.] and co-sponsored by Rep. Bob Goodlatte [R-Va.]);
- Prohibit funding in the bill from being used to grant visas to nationals of countries who refuse the United States' attempts to repatriate or deport their citizens or nationals (sponsored by Rep. Tom Tancredo [R-Colo.]); and
- Prohibit appropriations in this bill from being used to grant visas to nationals of countries whose government has notified the State Department of its refusal to extradite to the United States any individual indicted in the United States for killing a law enforcement officer (sponsored by Rep. Ted Poe [R-Texas]).
The measure also:
- Prohibits the State Department (DOS) from issuing a visa to any alien who DOS determines, based on credible evidence, has participated in terrorist activities in Colombia, or who has willfully provided support to Colombian terrorist organizations, but authorizes DOS to waive this prohibition if the agency determines and certifies to Congress, on a case-by-case basis, that issuance of a visa is necessary “to support the peace process in Colombia or for urgent humanitarian reasons”; and
- Makes the Hmong and Montagnards – mountain rebel peoples of Laos and Vietnam, respectively – admissible by waiving inadmissibility based on affiliation with a terrorist organization, provided any event or act considered “terrorism” occurred no later than 1975.
During the week of June 11, the House began work on FY2008 spending measures. The first few days of floor debate were consumed by partisan bickering over transparency and accountability relative to the allocation of earmarks (i.e., appropriations either targeted for a specific project or purpose or that circumvent the merit-based or competitive allocation process).
After that issue was resolved, the House passed H.R. 2368, the fiscal year 2008 Department of Homeland Security appropriations bill, by a 268-150 margin. As passed by the House, the measure would provide about $37.4 billion in discretionary spending. Some items of note include:
- $50 million (not funded in fiscal year 2007 or in the president’s budget request for fiscal 2008) to help states to comply with the REAL ID Act;
- $1 billion for 3,000 additional Border Patrol agents and for border security fencing/infrastructure;
- $225 million ($27 million below the president’s 2008 budget request) for the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI), which requires the use of official travel documents (passports or other) for persons entering the U.S. by land;
- $180 million for the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program, including $15 million for a new DHS mandate that the agency contact every prison, jail, and correctional facility in U.S. monthly to identify incarcerated and convicted aliens who are candidates for deportation and to start removal proceedings where ordered; and
- $462 million (matches the president’s budget request) for the statutorily-mandated US-VISIT entry-exit system.
In addition, amendments adopted on the House floor:
- Prohibit Federal funds from being distributed to state and local governments who refuse to share information with Federal immigration authorities by adopting “sanctuary policies” (sponsored by Rep. Tancredo); and
- Fully fund the President’s Budget Request ($26.4 million) for the training and support for the voluntary participation of local law enforcement officers in immigration law enforcement, an important force multiplier in the fight against illegal immigration (sponsored by Rep. Thelma Drake [R-Va.]).
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