This Week on the Hill
Week of February 25, 2019
(Last Updated: February 24, 2019 at 12:00 Noon GMT)
ThisWeekInImmigration.Com's "This Week on the Hill" page lists the immigration-, human trafficking-, and refugee-related hearings, markups, and floor actions that either have been officially scheduled or that are anticipated to occur during the current week.
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U.S. House of Representatives
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U.S. Senate
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Bicameral
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Non-Governmental
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This Week's Hearings
At the time of this writing, seven hearings that are likely to examine significant immigration-, refugee-, or human trafficking-related matters were scheduled for this week in the House:
Tuesday, February 26, 2019
- House Judiciary Committee Hearing on the Administration's Family Separation Policy: The House Committee on the Judiciary has scheduled a hearing for this week titled, "Oversight of the Trump Administration's Family Separation Policy.." The hearing is scheduled to take place at 10;00 am EST on Tuesday, February 25, 2019, in Room 2141 of the Rayburn House Office Building.
Witnesses: The following witnesses are scheduled to testify at the hearing: Carla Provost, Chief of the U.S. Border Patrol, Customs and Border Protection; Nathalie R. Asher, Acting Executive Associate Director of Enforcement and Removal Operations for Immigration and Customs Enforcement; Scott Lloyd, Senior advisor in the HHS Center for Faith and Opportunity Initiatives; Cmdr. Jonathan White, Commander of the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps; and Joseph Edlow, Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Legal Policy
- House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee Hearing on the Global Refugee/Asylum/Migrant Crisis: The House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights, and International Organizations has scheduled a hearing for this week titled, "A Global Crisis: Refugees, Migrants and Asylum Seekers." The hearing is scheduled for 2:00 pm EST on Tuesday, February 26, 2019, in Room 2200 of the Rayburn House Office Building.
Witnesses: The following witnesses are scheduled to testify at the hearing: Representative Raul Ruiz, (D-CA); former Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees, and Migration Eric Schwartz, President of Refugees International; and Ryan Mace, Grassroots Advocacy and Refugee Specialist at Amnesty International.
- House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee Hearing on the Humanitarian Crisis in Venezuela: The House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Western Hemisphere, Civilian Security and Trade has scheduled a hearing for this week titled, "Made by Maduro: The Humanitarian Crisis in Venezuela and U.S. Policy Responses." The hearing is scheduled for 2:00 pm EST on Tuesday, February 26, 2019, in Room 2172 of the Rayburn House Office Building.
Witnesses: The following witnesses are scheduled to testify at the hearing: Marcela Escobari, Senior Global Economy and Development Fellow at the Brookings Institution; and Santiago Canton, former Executive Secretary of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.
Wednesday 27, 2019
- House Appropriations Subcommittee Hearing on the Treatment of Unaccompanied Children: The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies has scheduled a hearing for this week titled, "Reviewing the Administration's Unaccompanied Children Program: State-Sanctioned Child Abuse." The hearing is scheduled for 10:00 am EST on Wednesday, February 27, 2019, in Room 23578-C of the Rayburn House Office Building.
Witnesses: The following witnesses are scheduled to testify at the hearing: Altha J. Stewart, President of the American Psychiatric Association; Jennifer Podkul, Senior Director of Advocacy and Policy for Kids in Need of Defense; and Michelle Brane, Director of the Women's Refugee Commission's Migrant Rights and Justice Program.
- House Appropriations Subcommittee Hearing on USAID: The House Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs has scheduled a hearing for this week on the operations of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). The hearing is scheduled for 10:00 am EST on Wednesday, February 27, 2019, in Room 2359 of the Rayburn House Office Building.
Witnesses: The sole witness testifying at the hearing will be USAID Administrator Mark Green.
- House Appropriations Subcommittee Hearing on the Border Wall and Military Readiness: The House Appropriations Subcommittee Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies has scheduled a hearing for this week titled, "The 2019 National Emergency Declaration to Build a Border Wall & its Effect on Military Construction and Readiness." The hearing is scheduled for 2:00 pm EST on Wednesday, February 27, 2019, in Room 2359 of the Rayburn House Office Building.
Witnesses: The following witnesses are scheduled to testify at the hearing: Alex A. Beehler, Assistant Secretary of the Army for Installations, Energy and Environment; Phyllis L. Bayer, Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Energy, Installations and Environment; and John W. Henderson, Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for the Installations, Environment and Energy.
Thursday, February 28, 2019
- House Judiciary Subcommittee Hearing on the National Emergencies Act of 1976: The House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties has scheduled a hearing for this week on the National Emergenies Act of 1976. The hearing is scheduled for 12:00 Noon on Thursday, February 28, 2019, in Room 2141 of the Rayburn House Office Building.
Witnesses: At the time of this writing, the witness list for the hearing had not yet been released.
This Week's Markups
At the time of this writing, one business meeting or markup that could have an eventual impact on the course of immigration-, refugee-, or human trafficking-related legislation or oversight are is scheduled for committee consideration this week in the House.
Monday, February 25, 2019
- Resolution of Disapproval: The House Committee on Rules is scheduled to meet on Monday, February 25, 2019, to consider a "rule" providing procedures for the consideration by the full U.S. House of Representatives of a joint resolution relating to a national emergency declared by the President on February 15, 2019. The resolution disapproves of the February 15th Declaration of Emergency, a declaration that the President contends will enable him to use funds previously appropriated for other purposes to fund construction of a wall along the U.S. border with Mexico. The resolution that the Committee will consider is H.J. Res. 46, introduced by Congressional Hispanic Caucus Chairman Joaquin Castro (D-TX). The Committee meeting is scheduled for 5:00 pm EST on Monday, February 25, 2019.
Background. On Friday, February 15, 2019, President Trump issued a declaration of emergency under the 1976 National Emergencies Act in order to redirect $3.6 BILLION in funds previously appropriated for military construction. He also plans to reprogram $3.1 BILLION in other federal funding, which would not be affected by termination of the emergency declaration.
Parliamentary Situation. The House is expected to take up H.J. Res. 46 under procedures that preclude Members from offering amendments to it on the House floor. However, it is anticipated that the procedure will afford the minority the right to offer a motion to recommit the measure, with or without instructions.
Summary of Immigration-Related Provisions: The measure would terminate the national emergency declared by President Trump on Feb. 15 regarding border security, which if enacted would prevent the president from using a proposed $3.6 billion in previously appropriated military construction and family housing funding to build new barriers on the border with Mexico.
This Week's Floor Actions
At the time of this writing, one measure that contains significant immigration-, refugee-, or human trafficking-related provisions is scheduled for floor consideration this week in the House:
Tuesday, February 26, 2019
- Resolution of Disapproval: The U.S. House of Representatives this week is expected to take up a joint resolution relating to a national emergency declared by the President on February 15, 2019. The resolution disapproves of the President's February 15th Declaration of Emergency, a declaration that the President contends will enable him to use funds previously appropriated for other purposes to fund construction of a wall along the U.S. border with Mexico. The resolution that the Committee will consider is H.J. Res. 46, introduced by Congressional Hispanic Caucus Chairman Joaquin Castro (D-TX). House floor action is expected to occur on Tuesday, February 26, 2019.
Background. On Friday, February 15, 2019, President Trump issued a declaration of emergency under the 1976 National Emergencies Act in order to redirect $3.6 BILLION in funds previously appropriated for military construction. He also plans to reprogram $3.1 BILLION in other federal funding, which would not be affected by termination of the emergency declaration.
Parliamentary Situation. The House is expected to take up H.J. Res. 46 under procedures that preclude Members from offering amendments to it on the House floor. However, it is anticipated that the procedure will afford the minority the right to offer a motion to recommit the measure, with or without instructions.
Summary of Immigration-Related Provisions: The measure would terminate the national emergency declared by President Trump on Feb. 15 regarding border security, which if enacted would prevent the president from using a proposed $3.6 billion in previously appropriated military construction and family housing funding to build new barriers on the border with Mexico.
This Week's Hearings
At the time of this writing, no hearings that are likely to examine significant immigration-, refugee-, or human trafficking-related matters are scheduled for this week in the Senate.
This Week's Markups
At the time of this writing, no business meeting that could have an eventual impact on the course of immigration-, refugee-, or human trafficking-related legislation or oversight are scheduled for committee consideration this week in the Senate:
This Week's Floor Actions
At the time of this writing, no matters or measures that contain significant immigration-, refugee-, or human trafficking-related provisions or could have significant consequence for those subjects are scheduled for floor consideration this week in the Senate.
Hearings, Briefings, and Conference Deliberations
At the time of this writing, the following events that are likely to include significant mentions of immigration-, refugee-, or human trafficking-related matters are scheduled for this week between the two chambers.
Monday, February 11, 2019
- Conference Committee Deliberations on Fiscal Year 2019 Border Security Funding: The conference committee established to develop a border security package for inclusion in the Fiscal Year 2019 Homeland Security Appropriations Act could meet as soon as Monday, February 11, 2019, to conclude its consideration of the differing versions of H.J. Res. 31, a Fiscal Year 2019 continuing appropriations resolution for the Department of Homeland Security.
When it formally meets again, it will do so in Room HC-5 of the U.S. Capitol Building.
As a technical matter, the conference committee was established to resolve the differences between the House Amendments and Senate Amendments to H.J. Res. 31. In reality, for all practical purposes, the conferees have been tasked with negotiating the final versions of seven pairs of appropriation bills that were approved last year by the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations but that were not enacted into law. Should they do so, that could pave the way for concluding action on all of the Fiscal Year 2019 appropriations bills.
Three of seven pairs of bills that conferees are negotiating contain significant appropriations for the federal government's immigration-, refugee-, and human trafficking -related functions:
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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).
Looming Deadline. Conferees are working against a formal deadline of February 15, 2019, to reach an agreement and have that agreement enacted into law. This is because funding expires on that date for the various departments, agencies, and functions of the federal government that have not yet received a full-year Fiscal Year 2019 appropriation.
Outlook. At the time of this writing, the outlook for conferees reaching a settlement this week appears certain.
This Week's Activities
No Scheduled Immigration-, Human Trafficking, or Refugee-Related Events