Congress won’t vote on Republicans’ multibillion-dollar immigration package this week as plans quickly fell apart over internal opposition to a pair of controversial items being pushed by the Trump administration that got entangled in the spending fight.
Senate Republicans announced they would not schedule votes related to the $70 billion immigration funding package on Thursday, instead leaving town for the scheduled Memorial Day recess. As a result, the House announced it would likely expedite votes to leave before the weekend — making it likely Republicans won’t consider the sweeping immigration funding bill until after the holiday.
Republican leaders had planned to vote on the package, which would fund federal immigration enforcement for the next three years, but those plans ran into a number of issues as members of the GOP conference raised their eyebrows at some of the provisions.
Republicans had initially included a $1 billion spending provision in the first draft of the bill to enhance security for the East Wing Modernization Project, the name for President Donald Trump’s ballroom construction at the White House. However, that was stripped out by the Senate parliamentarian over the weekend because it did not adhere to rules that would exempt it from the 60-vote filibuster.
Authors of the bill sought to adjust the language — but it still caused issues due to a lack of support among GOP ranks. Utah Sen. John Curtis was among those who was skeptical about the funding, telling the Deseret News last week the $1 billion price tag has raised questions about whether it’s justified.
Things only got worse from there. The Justice Department announced this week it would be rolling out a $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization fund” that would allow individuals to be compensated if they believe they have been unfairly targeted by the federal government.
Although that fund is unrelated to the underlying immigration bill, it prompted outrage from Democrats and several Republicans. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche met with Senate Republicans on Thursday morning to answer questions about the fund with hopes to ease concerns and pave the way for the immigration bill to be passed.
“An executive branch being able to, at their will, send money to people without the proper judicial rule — those are my concerns,” Curtis said ahead of the meeting.
It’s not yet clear how Republicans will move forward with the immigration bill, which has become a major focus for the party ahead of the midterm elections. Trump had given the party a deadline of June 1 to get the package to his desk, but that looks less likely now that both chambers of Congress are not scheduled to return until that day.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., told reporters on Thursday that lawmakers would “pick up where we left off” when they return.