Yesterday, the Senate Appropriations Committee released the text of the End the Shutdown and Secure the Border Act.
Since the bill will be added as an amendment to the Homeland Security Appropriations bill, it doesn't currently have a bill number. But currently, the amendment sits at just over 1,300 pages.
I read the whole bill last night. There is no doubt, this is a compromise bill.
In exchange for 5.7 billion of irrevocable border wall construction, and hundreds of millions for other border and immigration enforcement programs, the legislation grants temporary relief (lasting a maximum of three years) for illegal aliens registered under Barack Obama's DACA program. It also defers deportation for Central and South Americans who fled to the United States after their home countries suffered natural disasters years ago.
Do I wish that the bill didn't include these deportation deferrals? Of course... It churns my stomach to think that the only way we can secure the border is for the President to promise not to deport some illegal aliens for another three years...
But that is where we're at. And when you weigh everything, even with these three-year deportation deferrals, it is worth it.
This is an opportunity to finally secure the border and to erect hundreds of miles of wall and fencing. This is what Congress has promised us for decades. But every time border security has been on the table, both parties decided to push through permanent amnesty instead.
Not this time.
I've read the entire bill. There are no permanent amnesty provisions and no pathways to citizenship offered to these illegals. But Democrats are scrambling to try to amend the bill!
It's pretty amazing. The deferred deportation part of the bill was written by Democrats. The entire Democrat leadership endorsed this bill last year. As you remember, Democrats tried to ram the Bridge Act through the House using a discharge petition last summer.
It was good enough for the Left then, but isn't good enough now. They want full amnesty, instead, including a pathway to citizenship for illegal aliens.
I can't stress enough how dangerous this is. If a pathway to citizenship passes, this country will never recover.
Democrats are also trying to water down the border wall provisions in the bill. Not only are they trying to reduce the funding from 5.7 billion to a measly 1 billion, but they are also trying to slip in two poison pill amendments. One would restrict the funding to only allow the President to repair existing fencing. The other amendment would radically prohibit the areas where a border wall could be built, ensuring that hundreds of miles of the border remain wide open.
President Trump's offer is already more generous than the Left deserves. But the Democrats want more.
Don't let the Leadership cave!
President Trump is threatening to declare a national emergency and build the wall using discretionary funding if Congress refuses this deal. The GOP leadership doesn't want that. They would rather give the left more amnesty than allow the President to protect the country.
Donald Trump has gotten us to this point. He stood firm during the shutdown and submitted a generous compromise bill that funds the border wall without giving amnesty to illegals.
Now it is up to YOU to make sure that Congress doesn't surrender to these open border leftists!
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