Budget battles begin (or maybe not so much), you
must still demand DEFUND of RAP by Ann Corcoran, 11/14/16
They are back,
or just getting back as Congress is in full swing at least for a few days
starting tomorrow! See a schedule
here for the next few days.
BTW, I see no mention of the legally required
hearing that Rep. Trey Gowdy (Chairman of the House Subcommittee on
Immigration) is supposed to have had in advance of the fiscal year (before
October 1st!) on the US Refugee Admissions Program (RAP) for FY2017.
Rep Brian Babin
(R-TX) said in a FAIR interview that he plans to make another run at defunding
the UN/US Refugee Admissions Program in the federal budget.
First,
listen to Rep. Brian
Babin speaking on a FAIR (Federation for American Immigration Reform) podcast.
(Hat tip: Richard at Blue
Ridge Forum) It is almost
13 minutes long and well worth listening to, but be sure to listen starting
around the 1:50 mark where the Congressman says he plans to work hard and
diligently to attach his DEFUND the RAP measure on the Continuing Resolution
(or final budget plan) which ever they address in the lame duck session.
Readers will
remember that he sought to attach language to the CR that is operative at the
moment and had 37
members of Congress, including himself, behind the effort. Letter
here.
So what is happening
now that Donald Trump has shocked the country with his victory and the House
and Senate remain in Republican hands?
The
Hill is reporting that there may be another
CR that would continue funding the government at FY2016 levels into February of
next year. This would give the incoming Trump team an opportunity to
shape the budget for the remaining months of the year to their liking.
It would also have the benefit of cutting out
Obama and the likes of Harry Reid from presiding over a contentious December
budget fight.
Unless the
Department of State, the Office of Refugee Resettlement, or the VOLAGs have
money left over from last year, I am making the assumption that the FY2016
level is not adequate to get Obama’s 110,000 refugees in to the US by September
30th. They could try to do a rush job and bring them in at high levels
now, but they will be gambling on whether they will have money in the second
half of the year.
[An aside: I hope this is the last year of
this shameful inattention to the federal budget and that Congress gets on the
stick and completes the Appropriations bills BEFORE the fiscal year begins on
October 1. Not finishing the bills is a sign of shoddy leadership in my
opinion! See
here.] See the story
in The
Hill here (note some Republicans are on Obama’s
team and want the budget finished in December):
GOP groups are seizing on Donald Trump’s
victory in an attempt to avert the long-dreaded spending deal with President
Obama in the upcoming lame-duck session of Congress.
Members of the Republican Study Committee are
renewing their calls for leadership to hold off on negotiating this year’s
spending bill process until after Obama leaves office. RSC chairman
Rep Bill Flores of Texas says extending the Continuing Budget Resolution in to
February will give the Trump team time to put a mark on the federal budget for
the remainder of the 2017 fiscal year.
RSC Chairman
Bill Flores of Texas said in an interview that his members are backing a
short-term spending bill that goes through Feb. 28. That would give the next
Congress and the incoming president about five weeks to approve the budget for
2017, which was initially due in September.
It’s an idea
that conservatives, led by groups such as Heritage Action and FreedomWorks, had
first floated this summer, long before Trump’s surprise victory on Tuesday. Calls to kick the appropriations process into
next year received a lukewarm reception on Capitol Hill earlier this year, with
the prospect of a Democratic-controlled White House and Senate looming. That calculation has now drastically changed.
Much of the outcome will depend on Trump, who
must quickly decide whether GOP leaders should clear the decks or let him get
involved during the precious first 100 days of his presidency.
Your job remains, no
matter when they finish the budget, to demand DEFUNDING of the RAP.
Appropriations are policy!
Tell them to
defund it until Congress can seriously look at either reforming it or trashing
it altogether! See my
thoughts on what Trump
should do on January 21st. For all of our many posts on Congress and the budget
process see our tag ‘Where is Congress.’
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