Democrat Priorities Laid Bare In Budget
In December, House Speaker-designate Nancy Pelosi outlined her priorities on immigration, which naturally included amnesty for beneficiaries of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program and a pledge to “meet our responsibility to provide strong, smart border security that serves our country’s needs.”
Well, since regaining control of the House, Pelosi and the Democratic caucus have stood by as the crisis on the border has worsened with each passing day. In the current fiscal year, the number of Southern border apprehensions already have reached 676,315, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). That is a figure that exceeds the population of Atlanta.
In response to the escalating humanitarian andsecurity crisis, Democrats not only aren’t providing anything resembling “strong,smart border security,” they are cutting critical resources to border agencies.
On Wednesday, the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security approved by voice vote a $63.8 billion funding measure that fails to provide funding for Border Patrol agents or checkpoints.
Democrats appear to believe that the border is best secured by giving $151 million to U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) for the purpose of adding 1,846 new positions to monitor border entry ports, but not one additional cent to hire Border Patrol officers – the ones who actually man the border.
The chair of the subcommittee, Rep. LucilleRoybal-Allard (D-Calif.), characterized the funding bill as one which takes “abalanced approach to border security and immigration enforcement, including newefforts to protect the dignity and safety of every person in U.S. governmentcustody.”
Balanced? No funds for officers to patrol the border, but$20 million to establish a new Officeof Immigration Detention Ombudsman and bars funding transfers to Immigrationand Customs Enforcement (ICE) Operations and Support for Enforcement andRemoval Operations? Pouring salt into the wound, it also explicitly preventsICE from transferring funds to increase detention capacity.
Not to mention thatDemocrats found time this week to pass the Dream and Promise Act, which theCongressional Budget Office estimates will add $35 billion to the deficit.
Oh, and they also ignored their own set budget rules that require offsets to be identified if a measure will increase the deficit.
While Republicans were unable to prevent Democrats from pushing it towards a full committee vote, ranking member Kay Granger (R-Texas) did express her opposition to the bill, which she said fails to address the increasingly dire crisis at the border.
“We are facing a crisis at our southern border, and wehave to put partisan politics aside and address it,” she said, stressing theneed to ensure “all the tools at our disposal to address this crisis – wecannot hamstring the agencies on the frontlines by starving them of resourcesand not giving them the legal authorities they need.”
Granger also called for the immediate passage of a supplemental bill to address the border. That is separate from the $4.5 billion emergency spending request the White House made at the beginning of May – before more than 144,000 migrants were apprehended at the border.
Citing an unfolding “humanitarian and security crisis,”the White House asked for $3.3 billion for humanitarian assistance and $1.1billion for border operations, and no money for a border barrier in an effortto gain Democrat support.
Over the last three months the average monthly apprehension figures have hovered well above 100,000. Democrats’ continued obstruction and denial of the humanitarian crisis is irresponsible, unconscionable and a threat to the migrants and the men and women tasked with their care.