The House has approved two amendments to the Department of Homeland Security spending bill that would defund Pres. Obama's executive amnesties. The Aderholt amendment, which would block funding for Obama's November 2014 executive actions and most of the 2012 Morton Memos, passed by a 237-to-190 margin. The Blackburn amendment, which would block funding for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, passed by a 218-to-209 margin.
The House is expected to pass the full DHS spending bill later today.
The vote for the Aderholt/Mulvaney/Barletta amendment broke across party lines with all but 7 Republicans voting yes and all Democrats voting no. The seven Republicans to vote no, included Reps. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-Fla.), Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.), Renee Elmers (R-N.C.), Carlos Curbelo (R-Fla.), Jeff Denham (R-Calif.), Robert Dold (R-Ill.), and David Valadao (R-Calif.).
The vote for the Blackburn amendment also broke across party lines, but 19 Republicans joined the 7 who also voted against the Aderholt amendment. The 19 Republicans included, Reps. Mark Amodei (R-Nev.), Mike Coffman (R-Colo.), Ryan Costello (R-Pa.), Charles Dent (R-Pa.), Chris Gibson (R-N.Y.), Richard Hanna (R-N.Y.), Cresent Hardy (R-Nev.), Joe Heck (R-Nev.), John Katko (R-N.Y.), Peter King (R-N.Y.), Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.), Frank LoBiondo (R-N.J.), Tom MacArthur (R-N.J.), Martha McSally (R-Ariz.), Pat Meehan (R-Pa.), Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), David Reichert (R-Wash.), Chris Smith (R-N.J.), and Fred Upton (R-Mich.).
The two amendments combined would:
- Defund implementation of all Obama and DHS November 2014 memoranda
- Defund the processing of applications and renewals of Obama's 2012 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program
- Defund 4 of the 5 Morton Memos that deal with prosecutorial discretion and detail who ICE agents can and can't deport
- Prohibit federal benefits from being given to any illegal alien covered by the November memoranda
UPDATE: The House has also passed the full DHS spending bill by a 236-to-191 margin. Several Republicans voted against final passage because of the inclusion of the Aderholt and Blackburn amendments, including Reps. Curbelo, Ellmers, Denham, Ros-Lehtinen, Valadao, Coffman, Dold, and Diaz-Balart. Reps. Collin Peterson (D-Minn.) and Brad Ashford (D-Neb.) broke with the Democrats to vote in favor of the bill.
"Now the action moves to the Senate," Sen. Jeff Sessions said in a press statement after the vote. "This vote represents one of the most important constitutional votes that has ever come before this body. I would encourage every Senate Democrat to pause and consider this question before acting: to whom do you owe your allegiance? To party leaders, to donors, to the citizens of other countries, or to the American citizens who elected you and the Constitution that protects their rights?"
