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LAWMAKERS SUBMIT BIPARTISAN BILL TO AVOID SECOND SHUTDOWN

Darryl Coote

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Sen. Richard Shelby, R-AL, speaks to reporters on the tentative government funding deal to avoid another government shutdown, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. on February 12, 2019. Photo by Kevin Dietsch/UPI | License Photo
 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Feb. 14 (UPI) -- Lawmakers introduced a bipartisan spending and security bill late Wednesday to prevent a second government shutdown.

With government funding to run out Friday looming, Rep. Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., chairwoman of the House Appropriations Committee, filed the 1,159-page bill that will keep money in federal coffers until the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30.

Following days of negotiations, the group of bipartisan lawmakers included $1.375 billion for physical barriers along the U.S.-Mexico border, about one-fifth the amount President Donald Trump has requested. Democrats have repeatedly said they won't allocate that much.

This stalemate between congressional Democrats and Trump over his demand for $5.7 billion to fund the barriers resulted in a 35-day partial shutdown, which ended when Trump signed off on additional funds that run out Friday.

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"We cannot repeat the disastrous government shutdown, so it is incumbent on Congress to come together to responsibly fund our government. This legislation represents a bipartisan compromise and will keep our government open while funding key priorities," Lowey said.

The Senate is expected to vote on the bill early Thursday. Then it goes to the House for a vote Thursday evening, then to Trump for signing.

"If some choose not to sign it, that's their prerogative," Lowey said.

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The $1.375 billion is allocated for the construction of about 55 miles of a physical barrier along the southern border in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas, according to a summary of the Consolidated Appropriations Act.

Homeland Security will receive $49.4 billion in discretionary funding, $2 billion more than Trump requested and, along with the 55-mile barrier, includes $100 million for "new border security technology," $113 million for "additional air and marine assets," and $77 million for "opioid equipment and staffing for use at international mail and express consignment facilities," the summary said.

It does not include funding for new Border Patrol agents.

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Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said he thinks Trump will sign off on it.

"My impression is he's likely to sign it but then to issue some sort of executive order to supplement those funds with other funds that Congress has already authorized him to tap," he said.

The bill would also prohibit the Department of Homeland Security from preventing "a member of Congress from entering any facility that is used to detain or otherwise house children," the summary said.

A pair of Democratic senators were denied access last summer to migrant processing facilities.

Concerning the treatment of migrant and asylum-seeking families who enter America, a second, longer explanatory summary of the bill says it directs Homeland Security to ensure "that separated family units are reunited and transferred together" before either being deported or transferred to an immigration center.

It also prohibits Homeland Security from placing pregnant women in restraints and provides oversight of Immigration and Customs Enforcement of detainees.

https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2019/02/14/Lawmakers-submit-bipartisan-bill-to-avoid-second-shutdown/4671550133911/