Earlier this month, Congress cleared a budget deal that sets new caps on how much the government can spend over the next two years; however, it must still pass an omnibus package next month with detailed spending levels for each federal program for the rest of fiscal 2018, which ends Sept. 30.
Top-line funding levels for the omnibus have been set, but lawmakers are now debating how to divvy up the pot and whether to include some immigration priorities in the package.
A bipartisan group of 16 senators is pushing a compromise that would give the White House $25 billion in funding for a border wall and protect roughly 800,000 young immigrants enrolled in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program from deportation. The lead sponsors of that bill are Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD) and Angus King (I-ME). Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ), a co-sponsor of the bill, said the omnibus spending package is the “best vehicle right now” to get DACA extended.
“A broadly-supported, bipartisan bill that protects DACA recipients and strengthens border security ought to be able to get 60 votes in the Senate,” Flake said. “Let’s put it on the floor and work together to get it passed.”
Many Senate Democrats are not convinced that they need to give President Donald Trump $25 billion for his border wall as part of a deal to save the so-called Dreamers from deportation.
“What we should be doing is passing a clean Dream Act with a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers and their parents,” said Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee. “While we need strong border security, President Trump’s idea of spending $25 billion to build a wall on the Mexican border is totally absurd and a waste of money. I will do everything I can to prevent that from ever happening.”
The two-year budget deal passed by Congress this month will boost military spending to $700 billion for fiscal 2018, roughly 10 percent more than current levels. Domestic spending will also be increased to $591 billion. Within those broad parameters, there is an ongoing debate about where exactly the money should go.
This article was provided to OSAE by the Power of A and ASAE's Inroads.