The House of Representatives will vote on two amendments to the Department of Homeland Security spending bill in the coming days that will defund Pres. Obama's executive amnesties. One amendment, offered by Reps. Robert Aderholt (R-Ala), Mick Mulvaney (R-S.C.), and Lou Barletta (R-Penn.) will mostly defund the President's amnesties announced in November, while the second, offered by Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) will defund the the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program announced by the President in 2012.
The House Rules Committee is expected to allow floor votes on both amendments early this week, and the House is expected to take up the full DHS spending bill and the two amendments on Wednesday.
The two amendments 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
Rather than including any of the permanent changes included in the bill introduced by Rep. Aderholt last week, H.R.191, House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) decided to keep the focus narrowly on the November memos and DACA applications and renewals.
Further, It was first reported that House Leadership would send the more significant message by including the defund language in the DHS spending bill itself. But intra-Party negotiations eventually led to the current situation of adding the anti-amnesty provisions through amendments. While disappointing that Leadership didn't stick to its earlier commitment, at least the House will take action to combat Obama's executive actions on immigration.
