House Freedom Caucus Fights for Wall Funding

By Heather Ham-Warren | December 14, 2018

Earlier this month Congress passed a continuing resolution extending their funding deadline to December 21. It is no surprise that the real point of contention between Republicans and Democrats is funding for President Trump’s big, beautiful wall along the southern border. However, as the new deadline approaches, a deal appears to be further away.

On Tuesday, President Trump hosted House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D- N.Y.) in the Oval office to continue funding negotiations. The televised conversation involved a heated exchange in which Pelosi, Schumer, and Trump spoke all at once hurling blame at each other both politically and personally. It is unclear what, if any, headway the three made away from cameras, but on television the president remained adamant he would shut the government down if a spending agreement did not include at least $5 billion in wall funding.

Meanwhile, in Congress, the Senate appears confident that a deal could be made. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) urged Pelosi and Schumer to make a deal with the president on funding the border wall. “There is no reason for my Democratic friends to end this year the way they began it. It would be truly bizarre for them to decide they’d prefer a partial government shutdown to reasonable funding for national security. It would signal that their party is more committed to political spite for the president than to the public interest,” McConnell said. Senate Democrats refused to fund the government for a couple days in January because of immigration-related issues.

However, members of the House of Representatives appear less confident in their leadership that the president’s request will be made. Earlier this week, the House Freedom Caucus (HFC) released the text of an amendment that they plan on attaching to any spending package leadership places on the House floor.

This FAIR-supported amendment would explicitly authorize the construction of a border wall system on the southern border and provide the full $5 billion in appropriation for actual wall construction. Additionally, the amendment would address other important immigration loopholes. The HFC amendment would require credible fear standards to meet a preponderance of the evidence (roughly 51 percent truthfulness), add an additional 375 immigration judges, treat arrivals from contiguous and noncontiguous countries similarly— providing for expedited removal of aliens that have not been subject to human trafficking, and ensure there is no presumption that an unaccompanied alien child be released simply because of the Flores settlement. All of these changes will minimize the wide scale abuse currently rampant in immigration cases.

Should Congress fail to reach a deal— or the president veto said deal— a partial shutdown would include agencies and services funded through Interior and Environment, Financial Services, Housing and Urban Development, Agriculture, Commerce, Justice and Science, State and Foreign Operations, and Homeland Security.

To contact your lawmakers and urge them to fund the wall, please go here.