As Democrats and Republicans argue about who had the upper hand in crafting the appropriations bill that will fund the federal government through September, Rep. Steve King (R-IA) is introducing seven amendments that would, if passed, make good on the promises made by GOP candidates in the last election that have yet to be fulfilled.
“During the November election, all Republicans, including President Donald Trump, vowed to uphold our Constitution, cut spending, and listen to the American people,” King said in announcing the amendments. “The 2017 omnibus spending bill provides Congress the unique opportunity to uphold those promises, and that is why I have introduced seven separate amendments to the omnibus spending bill.
“For years, the American people have been demanding that we defund DACA and DAPA (Barack Obama’s executive actions to give temporary legal status to illegal aliens brought to the U.S. ilegally as children and their parents), Obamacare, Planned Parenthood, the Iran Nuclear Deal, sanctuary cities and strike out any expansion of H-2B visas,” King said.
“Furthermore, we must provide the funding for a wall in order to secure our borders,” King said. “Republicans and all of Congress must be held responsible for election promises made and thus, I believe these amendments should be brought to the House floor for a vote.
“Today, I am putting the marker down on where I stand, and I challenge my colleagues to do the same,” King said.
The seven amendments would:
1. Defund DACA, DAPA programs.
2. Defund Obamacare.
3. Defund Planned Parenthood.
4. Defund the Iran nuclear agreement.
5. Defund all sanctuary cities.
6. Block expansion of the H-2B Visa Program.
7. Fund the building of wall on the U.S. southern border.
The appropriations bill does increase spending for border security but not specifically for the construction of a wall on the border.
At a press conference at the White House on Monday, Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney explained it this way:
As far as border security, yeah, we agreed I think it was last Monday to not continue to push for bricks and mortar for the wall. What did we get as part of this deal? We got $1.522 billion additional dollars, okay? That’s not the whole funding for the border security this year, this is just additional money. And we’ll be able to use that on things like maintenance on the existing wall — infrastructure, roads, bridges, gates, technology, lighting — things that will have a material impact on border security this year.
House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) has said that the spending bill does not fund Planned Parenthood, but it’s not clear how the legislation addresses the Title X Family Planning Program funding of the nation’s largest abortion provider to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars annually.
The bill does fund Obamacare, which is still the law of the land.
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