With the Senate Democrats holding fast against funding the Homeland Security Dept. without changes in the ICE /CBP Immigration operation and the lines at airports growing day by day and TSA staff leaving in ever increasing numbers?
Trump has chosen to pull money from other Homeland budget funds programs to begin paying TSA workers…
Trump had been agreeable to a Senate compromise a week ago, but added his SAVE Bill to his demands ….
THAT went nowhere for Democrats…..
In addtion?
Conservative lawmakers keep pressuring Trump to NOT give into Democrats demands in immigration enforecnemnt limitations….
Finally?
Trump has been trying to get Republican Senator to drop the chambers 60 member vote threshold for the budget vote…
THAT also has gone NOWHERE…
There WILL be more on how Democrats deal with this….
Using fund earmarked for other programs means the orignal programs won’t be funded and one would assume Trump WILL have to go back to congress for THAT money , meaning Democrats WILL have another crack at Homeland ?
Detail’s and if Congress goes along will be forthcoming….
With long lines at airports ahead of a prime spring travel weekend, and with lawmakers eager to compromise ahead of a two-week congressional recess, Senate Democrats and Republicans had stepped up their efforts in recent days to reach a funding deal, and spent Thursday haggling over the terms.
Yet as the pace of conversations picked up on Capitol Hill, there was still no sign of a compromise by evening, which Mr. Trump acknowledged in a social media post announcing his plan.
“I am going to sign an Order instructing the Secretary of Homeland Security, Markwayne Mullin, to immediately pay our TSA Agents in order to address this Emergency Situation,” he said.
He lashed out at Democrats, who he said had “recklessly created a true National Crisis” by refusing to fund the Department of Homeland Security. And he said he had been moved to intervene personally.
“It is not an easy thing to do,” Mr. Trump said, “but I am going to do it!”
Senator John Barrasso of Wyoming, the No. 2 Republican, acknowledged that senators, who have traditionally fought to preserve their power of the purse, “would have preferred to get this done here on the floor of the United States Senate.”…
…
Republicans on Thursday morning sent Democrats what Mr. Thune called “our last and final” offer. It would have funded the department without money for Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s deportation and detention operations.
But Democrats have continued to insist that any spending measure still include limits on federal immigration agents, and contain guardrails to prevent funds from be moved from other parts of the department to be used for immigration enforcement efforts.
Senator Chris Coons, Democrat of Delaware, hinted that the talks were making headway, saying that the “back-and-forth” was continuing between the two parties.
“I think the good news is that there is very broad agreement that we have to fund T.S.A.,” he said. “The bad news is that there’s not yet agreement on exactly how to fund D.H.S. without Democrats funding ICE, and we’re trying to get clarity on exactly what that looks like.”….
…
Still, a funding bill remains stalled in the Senate, where 60 votes are required for major legislation to move forward.
Senator John Kennedy, Republican of Louisiana, had said he would push for a separate bill that would fund just the T.S.A. And before Mr. Trump’s announcement, officials had been weighing whether they could find a way to pay T.S.A. agents by using funds that Republicans gave the department last year as part of their sweeping tax and domestic policy bill.
That measure handed a slush fund to ICE, and billions more to the rest of the Homeland Security Department with few limitations, including $10 billion for “border support.”
Senator Susan Collins, Republican of Maine and the chairwoman of the Appropriations Committee, told reporters on Thursday that the Office of Management and Budget had determined that Mr. Trump had the authority to use the funds in the law to pay T.S.A. workers….
Note…
Trump COULD HAVE done this from Day 1….
Democrats HAVE forced him to do this ….
There is STILL NO Homeland Spending Budget Bill….
AGAIN?…
This WILL force DHS to STILL Comeback to Congress for Money…..
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