What's on the Menu for Congress in April
Congress is back this coming week from a long, two-week recess. The House and the Senate will be in session for two weeks, with a week off on the 21st.
Ukraine Funding
|
Just before leaving town for recess, Congress passed a last-minute appropriations package that funded the remainder of the government for the rest of the fiscal year, including the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Precisely zero reforms were made to address the border crisis created by the Biden Administration.
You read that correctly. Congress voted to fully fund the border crisis.
Now, that doesn't mean that all options are off the table. Several news articles suggest Speaker Johnson (R-LA) plans to bring up a Ukraine package as soon as next week. For months, the Speaker has been clear that he wants to include fixes to the border crisis in that bill.
Early reports have outlined the Speaker's plan for a Ukraine package, but the articles covering the Speaker's comments do not mention border security. The coming weeks will tell what that package will look like, and we hope the Speaker stands by his commitment to securing the border.
Senate Republicans took a similar position late last year, promising they wouldn't fund Ukraine without improvements on the border. Less than two months after Republicans blocked a clean Ukraine/Israel/Taiwan bill because it didn't contain fixes to the border, 22 Republicans joined with Democrats to do exactly that. We hope this isn't a sign of what will happen in the House, but make sure you check your action board and demand the passage of H.R. 2 in any must-pass vehicle.
Mayorkas Impeachment Trial
|
Back in February, the House voted to impeach DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for "willful and systematic refusal to comply with the law" and "breach of public trust." To this day, the House hasn't sent those impeachment articles to the Senate.
Once the Senate receives articles of impeachment from the House, the Senate is required by its rules to consider the articles by 1 pm the next day. Because the Senate is effectively forced to stop what it's doing and consider impeachment, the general understanding in D.C. is that Speaker Johnson had been holding onto the articles until government funding was resolved.
Last week, Speaker Johnson sent a letter to Senator Schumer announcing that the articles would be presented to the Senate on Wednesday, April 10th. Notably, the last paragraph of the letter forecasted a concerning possibility of how the Senate could swiftly dispense with the impeachment process (emphasis mine):
"We call upon you to fulfill your constitutional obligation to hold this trial. The American people demand a secure border, an end to this crisis, and accountability for those responsible. To table articles of impeachment without ever hearing a single argument or reviewing a piece of evidence would be a violation of our constitutional order and an affront to the American people whom we all serve."
It's not surprising that Senator Schumer would want to move on from the Mayorkas impeachment as swiftly as possible, but simply discarding the House's impeachment articles in a procedural move without a trial would be both unprecedented and unacceptable. The American people deserve a full trial into the actions of the Secretary of DHS, which have directly caused the border crisis we're still dealing with.
A Note on the Border Crisis
|
The border crisis is still at record levels despite a steep drop-off in January. This February had the highest rate of illegal encounters of any February in history. While it appears illegal immigration is following seasonal patterns, those levels are high even for the Biden Administration. We're hearing reports of action on the Mexican side of the border to reduce illegal border crossings, but when March's data becomes public, we'll be able to see if there was a significant impact.
|
