BLOCKED: Democrats Block Humanitarian Border Aid For Third Time
June 11, 2019
BLOCKED: Democrats Block Humanitarian Border Aid For Third Time
Top Homeland Republican Gives Democrats Another Opportunity to Provide Humanitarian Aid for Migrants
WASHINGTON – House Democrats again stopped the House from considering humanitarian aid for the border crisis. Today, Democrats blocked a motion that would have allowed the House to consider Homeland Security Ranking Member Mike Rogers’ (R-Ala.) H.R. 3056, the Border Crisis Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2019, which provides $4.5 billion to address the humanitarian and security crisis at the southwest border. Rogers introduced H.R. 3056 as an amendment to H.R. 2740, a minibus appropriations bill, with Appropriations Ranking Member Kay Granger (R-Texas).
“Ranking Member Granger and I filed an amendment to the minibus which would have provided the $4.5 billion requested by the president,” Rogers said on the House floor. “It would have replenished critical funds needed to feed and shelter migrant families and unaccompanied children, provide urgent medical care and transportation services, and pay the growing costs of overtime for the men and women of DHS working on the frontlines of this crisis…Democrats need to stop denying the facts and blaming the President for this crisis. The time has come to face reality and work with the President and Republicans in Congress to immediately resolve this humanitarian crisis.”
This is the third time House Democrats have blocked humanitarian funding. First, Democrats rejected a Rogers amendment with Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Doug Collins (R-Ga.) to the disaster supplemental last month. Then, they refused to consider Rogers’ legislation last week when debating H.R. 6, mass amnesty legislation that did not address the border crisis.
Find Rogers full remarks below:
This rule demonstrates, once again, that the Democrat majority refuses to acknowledge, accept, or address the very real crisis at our southern border.
New numbers recently came out illustrating the magnitude of the crisis. CBP detained more than 144,000 migrants along the southwest border last month – a 622 percent increase compared with May 2017. We are on track to apprehend over 1 million migrants this fiscal year – approximately the population of Austin, Texas.
Smugglers and cartels continue to preach that now is the time to come to the United States. They call children “permisos” or permits and exploit them to get scores of adults unrelated to the children across our border. These criminal organizations run an international smuggling operation filled with misery and abuse. Migrants that survive the smugglers often arrive in poor health, physically exhausted, and in need of urgent medical care.
The men and women of CBP are doing the best they can to respond to this humanitarian crisis, but they have run out of space to safely house and process the unprecedented number of family units seeking entry into the United States. In the next couple of weeks, Health and Human Services will run out of funds to feed and shelter vulnerable unaccompanied children.
Four weeks ago, the President sent Congress an urgent request for supplemental appropriations to address this humanitarian crisis. Ranking Member Granger and I filed an amendment to the minibus which would have provided the $4.5 billion requested by the president.
It would have replenished critical funds needed to feed and shelter migrant families and unaccompanied children, provide urgent medical care and transportation services, and pay the growing costs of overtime for the men and women of DHS working on the frontlines of this crisis. Unfortunately, for the third time in the last month, the majority refused to make our amendment in order. Democrats haven’t approved a dime to address this crisis.
Because of the political dysfunction in their own caucus, they stubbornly refuse to put forward any solutions. It has gotten to the point where editorial boards in some of the most liberal cities in the nation are now calling out Democrats for their inaction. Democrats need to stop denying the facts and blaming the President for this crisis. The time has come to face reality and work with the President and Republicans in Congress to immediately resolve this humanitarian crisis.
I urge all Members to defeat the previous question on this rule. If we do that, we can finally bring this critically needed supplemental funding before the House for a vote.
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