Senate Republicans advanced part of their immigration enforcement bill Tuesday as they aim to get the package to President Donald Trump’s desk in a matter of days.
The party-line vote of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee followed several unsuccessful attempts by panel Democrats to add new restrictions on the administration’s immigration enforcement operations. That included amendments to require judicial warrants for searches and apprehensions and to keep federal agents out of polling places, among others.
Democrats also sought without avail to address issues not included in the committee’s portion of the bill — including funding the administration has requested for security measures for Trump’s proposed White House ballroom.
The effort by Democrats to attach the new law enforcement rules comes after bipartisan negotiations on that topic fell apart earlier this year, leading to a record 76-day shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security.
“We are doing this whole irresponsible and hyper-partisan spending exercise because the Republican majority does not want to pass common sense reforms,” Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.), the top Democrat on the Homeland Security panel, said.
Panel Chair Rand Paul (R-Ky.), who said earlier this year he was open to new immigration enforcement rules, warned that amendments from Democrats would “kill the bill” because they had not been litigated by the parliamentarian to ensure they fit within the strict rules governing the filibuster-skirting budget reconciliation process.
“They have no one to blame but themselves,” Paul said of his Democratic colleagues. “While there could have been a discussion over reforms and bipartisan compromise on this, it didn’t happen because the Democratic base decided they weren’t going to fund ICE.”
The committee vote comes as Republicans are still trying to lock down the votes for their bill because of concerns — and, in some cases, outright opposition — from some members to the $1 billion Secret Service line item that could go toward parts of the White House ballroom.
Peters criticized the Secret Service security funding arguing that it showed the “fecklessness” of Republicans in the face of Trump’s demands.
“Clearly he lied — he said it would never be built with taxpayer monies,” Peters said of Trump. “It’s time to stand up to the president’s ridiculous demands.”
Paul, who has been critical of using taxpayer funding toward the project, noted that the security language is not included in the Homeland Security panel’s portion of the bill.
