House Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.) on Tuesday pulled the Homeland Security bill from consideration of a larger minibus appropriations package for fiscal year 2021 that also includes proposed funding for the Defense Department.
Lowey offered a manager’s amendment to the House Rules Committee striking the Homeland Security division from the minibus.
The appropriations committee earlier this month approved the FY ’21 $50.7 billion spending bill for the Department of Homeland Security along party lines. The bill would zero funding for physical barriers on the southern border and reduce funding for several immigration enforcement efforts.
In a statement, a House Democratic aide said that “Frontline House Democrats raised concerns about some of the progressive immigration provisions in the bill and, given that the Senate has not yet begun its appropriations process, it made the most sense to bypass the House Floor and negotiate with the Senate using the Appropriations Committee-passed homeland bill. That strategy was successful last year.”
News of the withdrawal of the DHS bill was first reported by Politico.
House Democrats on the Appropriations Committee eliminated a $2 billion request for additional border wall and rescinded $1.4 billion from Customs and Border Protection’s FY ’20 budget that was earmarked for the barrier, angered by President Trump’s reprogramming of billions in Defense Department funds for use in constructing the wall.
The Senate Appropriations Committee has yet to mark up a spending bill for FY ’21.