Conference Committee on Border Wall Schedules First Meeting

Conference Committee Working on Border Security Funding Schedules First Meeting

Tuesday, January 29, 2019

Shelby and Lowey

Formal House and Senate negotiations are set to begin tomorrow over the President's demand that Congress appropriate more than $8 BILLION in additional Fiscal Year 2019 funding  for border security, a demand that famously includes a request for a $5.7 BILLION appropriation for construction of a wall along the border between the United States and Mexico. 

Tomorrow's action is set to occur in a conference committee that was established late last week to iron out differences between the President and Democrats in Congress over the President's border security funding demands.  The conferees will be working under a deadline of February 15, 2019, when the short-term continuing appropriations resolution that re-opened the closed functions of the federal government expires. 

As a technical matter, the conference committee that has been established is on the differing House-passed and Senate-passed versions of H.J. Res. 31, a bill making further continuing appropriations for the Department of Homeland Security for fiscal year 2019, and for other purposes  In reality, they are conferencing between two bills that were approved by the respective House and Senate Committees on Appropriations last year: S 3109, in the case of the Senate; [1] and H.R. 6776, in the case of the House. [2]
 
House Conferees.   Appointed as House conferees on H.J. Res. 31 are Representatives Nita Lowey (D-NY), Lucile Roybal-Allard (D-CA), David Price (D-NC), Barbara Lee (D-CA), Henry Cuellar (D-TX), Pete Aguilar (D-CA), Kay Granger (R-TX), Chuck Fleischmann (R-TN), Thomas Graves (R-GA), and Steven Palazzo (R-MS).
 
Senate Conferees.   Appointed as Senate conferees on H.J. Res. 31 are Senators Richard Shelby (R-AL); Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV); John Hoeven (R-ND); Roy Blunt (R-MO); Patrick Leahy (D-VT); Richard Durbin (D-IL); and Jon Tester (D-MT).
 
Matters to be Settled.   The matters that conferees will need to resolve can be divided into three categories: funding matters requested by the President, policy matters he requested, and unknown matters that could be injected into the conference.
 
Most of the differences between the House- and Senate-passed versions of the Fiscal Year 2019 Homeland Security Appropriations Act were worked out last year by the members of the two committees.  Many of those agreements are reflected in a Draft Committee Report released last week by Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard Shelby (R-AL). 

• Funding Matters Requested by the President.  The President has requested the following items that were not contained in the agreement reached last year by House and Senate appropriators:  
  

1. The Wall.  $5.7 BILLION for the construction of 235 miles of a  “physical barrier system along the Southwest border in order to complete the 10 highest border security priorities identified in the Border Security Improvement Plan submitted to Congress on January 4, 2018.
2. Housing for Vulnerable Populations.  $605,000,000 for facilities to enhance conditions and care for vulnerable populations encountered by Customs and Border Protection.
3. Border Patrol. Funding for 750 new Border Patrol agents, 375 new CBP officers, equipment, and technology required to support unprecedented operations at our borders and ports of entry.
4. Humanitarian Needs.  $800 MILLION requested by the President “to address urgent humanitarian needs for those encountered by Customs and Border Protection along the southwest border.”
5. Detention Beds.  $4.2 BILLION for n average of 52,000 detention beds per day, which would be a 25 percent increase over Fiscal Year 2018 levels.
6. Enforcement Officers.  $782 MILLION for hiring 2,750 additional law enforcement officers and to “help care for children in custody.”

• Policy Matters Requested by the President.  The President has requested the following changes in law to implement new immigration policies:
  

1. Temporary Protection for DACA Beneficiaries.  Provisions granting a new “Provisional Protected Presence” status for three years for foreign nationals who grew up in the United States and are enrolled in the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (DACA) program.
2. Temporary Protection for Certain TPS Beneficiaries.  Provisions granting a three year “Provisional Protected Presence” status to certain current TPS recipients whose status is facing expiration.  However, the language the Administration proposes also would make changes in permanent law that would render many current and future TPS beneficiaries ineligible for the status.  The Administration estimates that this provision would protect 325,000 individuals
   
3. Central American Children, Unaccompanied Alien Children, and Asylum Seekers.  Provisions providing for a program of in-country asylum processing for Central American Minors who meet stringent qualifications and other changes in law to roll back protections for asylum seekers, generally, and protections in current law for unaccompanied alien children.
   

Outlook.  Democrats have expressed strong opposition to most of the President’s requested add-ons.  It is uncertain how the matters in disagreement will be resolved.

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