On Wednesday, the Senate passed a bipartisan border supplemental plan sending $4.6 billion in additional aid to the southern border; the bill was approved last week by the Senate Appropriations Committee.
As The New York Times reported last week, “The bipartisan agreement, which the committee advanced 30 to 1, allocates about $2.9 billion for the care of migrant children and $1.3 billion to improve facilities at the border. It does not allow the Department of Homeland Security to add beds at detention centers or migrant processing facilities … the compromise was reached without input from House Democrats, who have been working on their own version, and it is unclear how the two measures align in addressing the administration’s urgent push for additional money at the border.”
According to CBS News, the bill includes “$2.88 billion for Health and Human Services to provide safe shelter and care for children in custody; $1.1 billion for Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to establish migrant care and processing facilities; $220 million for the Justice Department to help process immigration cases and provide resources to U.S. Marshals Service for care and detention of federal detainees; $145 million for branches of U.S. military for missions along the border.”
The bill stipulates overtime pay for agents and officials at the border along with funding for 30 new immigration judge teams.
Mark Morgan, acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said earlier in June, “I’m here as ICE begging for this. We need that to get the families out of the Border Patrol detention facilities and into better facilities.”
CNBC reported, “On Tuesday night, the Democratic-held House passed its own plan to appropriate $4.5 billion — including standards for caring for children at U.S. migrant detention facilities. Now, the two chambers will try to reconcile their plans. Earlier Wednesday, the Senate voted down the House-passed version of the bill by a 55-37 margin.” The Washington Examiner noted, “Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said Wednesday she won’t take up the Senate version, even though it is bipartisan and passed with an overwhelming majority.”
Politico reported that Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said on Wednesday, “The House passed its version last night. It’s a much better bill than the Senate version. We should take up the House bill here in the Senate and send something to the president as soon as possible and then make sure the administration uses funds to improve the conditions at the border immediately.”
But Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) said, “They should take ours. The House one is not adequate.”