Report: Joe Biden Supports Passing Amnesty Through Budget Reconciliation with Simple Majority
President Joe Biden told Hispanic members of Congress on Tuesday he supported the idea of moving legislation on immigration reform using budget reconciliation and a simple Democrat majority.
“He said he was committed to making those statements publicly,” Rep. Darren Soto (D-FL) told Politico, detailing the meeting.
Biden met with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus on Tuesday at the White House.
Soto said Biden would include rhetoric supporting the idea in his address to Congress later this month.
Hispanic Caucus Chair Rep. Raul Ruiz (D-CA) also told Politico Biden would support “a pathway to citizenship through the budget reconciliation.”
The White House said in a readout of the meeting Biden discussed “immigration reform and a humanitarian response at the border.”
Any budget reconciliation bill would have to win approval from the Senate parliamentarian, which might be difficult.
The Senate parliamentarian ruled against the proposed $15 an hour minimum wage in the budget reconciliation process that helped Democrats pass the $1.9 trillion coronavirus rescue package without Republican support. That would likely narrow any amnesty options for any future budget reconciliation package.
Paoletta: Joe Biden ‘100 Percent’ Violated Federal Law by Withholding Border Wall Funds
Former Trump administration lawyer Mark Paoletta told House Budget Committee ranking member Rep. Jason Smith (R-MO) Thursday that the Joe Biden administration violated the Impoundment Control Act by withholding federal funds for the border wall.
A veteran of Washington’s political battles, Paoletta served as general counsel of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the powerful White House agency in charge of all federal budgeting, spending, and regulatory actions. Now a senior fellow at the Center for Renewing America, he testified before the House Budget Committee’s hearing, “Protecting our Democracy: Reasserting Congress’ Power of the Purse.”
During the hearing, Smith and Rep. Lloyd Smucker (R-PA) asked Paoletta about the Biden administration’s withholding of federal funds appropriated to construct the wall along the southern border. Biden froze border wall funds on his first day in office.
Congress enacted the Impoundment Control Act of 1974 (ICA) to prevent the president and other government officials from unilaterally substituting their own funding decisions from those of Congress.
Before the ICA, presidents routinely declined to spend all of an appropriated sum if they could complete Congress’s goal for less than the full amount. The ICA makes it illegal to do so unless Congress passes a new law — called a rescission — taking back the remaining funds.
Smith asked Paoletta, “Do you believe that the executive branch violated the GAO standard of the Impoundment Control Act when it began withholding funds for the border wall?”
Paoletta responded, “100 percent.”
House Budget Committee Republican Leader Smith: Do you believe that the Executive Branch violated GAO’s standard of the Impoundment Control Act when it began withholding funds for the border wall?
Mark Paoletta: 100%
A must watch clip from today’s Budget Committee hearing: pic.twitter.com/hWhzEu82kq
— House Budget GOP (@housebudgetGOP) April 29, 2021
Paoletta explained when Trump temporarily delayed Ukraine aid for 50 days to assess changing circumstances in that region, after which OMB released the funds per Congress’s annual spending laws, congressional Democrats and Congress’s Government Accountability Office (GAO) cried foul and called it an ICA violation. He then noted the Biden administration admits the current president intends to circumvent Congress by permanently withholding funds for the border wall that Congress has already appropriated by law.
Paoletta explained in his testimony to the committee for the hearing:
In contrast, President Biden’s hold is designed to thwart a lawfully enacted Congressional appropriation to build a border wall. Under GAO’s interpretation, this is clearly illegal. President Biden stated during the campaign that, if elected, “there will not be another foot of wall constructed in my administration.” But Congress appropriated $1.4 billion last year specifically for the construction of the border wall. Nevertheless, on his first day in office, President Biden issued an Executive Order ordering the holding of all funds, and stating that building the wall was “not a serious policy solution . . . and a waste of money.” Reports are that all funds are being held and construction has stopped.
The White House Press Secretary stated in February that the President “took formal steps to follow up on his Executive Order to end the declaration so that no more American tax dollars could be wasted on a border wall that does nothing to address or reform issues in our immigration system.” In fact, in President Biden’s FY22 “Discretionary Request,” President Biden proposes to rescind the very wall money that he is currently holding. President Biden has not sent up any deferral or rescission special message to Congress, as required by the ICA. It appears that the Administration is now intentionally under-executing congressionally appropriated funding in order to later rescind it.
Smucker said during the hearing the migrant crisis that arose less than 100 days into Biden’s administration partly came from Biden’s freezing of border wall funding.
“This is a real crisis that we’re dealing with as a result of what I think is an illegal action by the president, freezing the congressionally appropriated funds, funding for the construction on the southern border wall,” Smucker said.
Sean Moran is a congressional reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter @SeanMoran3.
Border Patrol Deploys New Water Rescue Devices on Rio Grande
Del Rio Sector Border Patrol agents deployed new watercraft on the Rio Grande to help with the rescue of the increasing number of migrants crossing from Mexico.
Del Rio Sector agents are now patrolling with Shallow Water Rescue Craft to cut into the increasing number of migrant drownings this year, according to a tweet from Chief Patrol Agent Austin Skero.
“This vessel can be quickly deployed in any water depth, improving our agents’ abilities to conduct rescues or aid agents working from land,” Skero tweeted. “Greater versatility saves both lives and time.”
The watercraft is a jet ski-type vessel that tows a rescue flotation device.
CBP Senior Official Performing the Duties of the Commissioner Troy Miller told reporters during a press conference this week that Transnational Criminal Organizations conducting human smuggling operations show great disregard for human life.
“CBP routinely rescues migrants who have been abandoned by these smugglers in harsh terrain, leaving them for dead with no food or water,” Miller said. “In Fiscal Year 2021, CBP has already rescued 4,766 migrants along the southwest border. In Fiscal Year 2020, we rescued 5,232 migrants.”
These rescues frequently include water rescues along the Rio Grande and in other border waterways. Just last week, Del Rio Sector marine unit agents rescued two small children, Breitbart Texas reported.
Earlier this month, these agents rescued a two-year-old child and the child’s parents after agents found them struggling in the Rio Grande. Following this rescue, agents found 20 more migrants trapped on an island in the border river.
About a week earlier, a nine-year-old girl drowned during a border crossing attempt. Agents were unable to revive the girl but managed to revive the child’s mother and a sibling.
Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior news contributor for the Breitbart Texas-Border team. He is an original member of the Breitbart Texas team. Price is a regular panelist on Fox 26 Houston’s What’s Your Point? Sunday-morning talk show. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX and Face
No comments:
Post a Comment