Fails to Adequately Address Spending and Border Crises
U.S. Senator Steve Daines today issued the following statement after voting against the latest spending package that includes more than $1.9 billion worth of earmarks and continues Washington’s wasteful spending habits. In addition, the bill fails to adequately address the crisis at the nation’s southern border. Every Senate Democrat voted against every border-related amendment that would help secure the border.
“For the second time in a month, Washington is failing Montanans and the American people by passing yet another out-of-control spending bill that does nothing to restore much-needed sanity to our budget process. With wasteful earmarks for pet projects as far as the eye can see, it is long past time that members of Congress feel the pain of their own fiscal mismanagement. I will not support yet another abuse of taxpayer funds and will continue to advocate that if Congress does not pass its budget on time, members should not get paid.”
Wasteful spending provisions in the bill:
- $880M for border security in Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, Tunisia and Oman
- $32.5M for pro-abortion UN Population Fund
- $1.1M for “climate resilience & equity” in Boston, MA
- $200M for “gender equity and equality action”
- $740,000 to “increase diversity” in state contracts in Maryland
Republican Border-Related Amendments Rejected by Every Senate Democrat:
Laken Riley Act
Requires U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to arrest illegal immigrants who commit theft, burglarly, larceny or shoplifting offenses and mandate they are detained until they can be removed from the United States.
No funds to use CBP One app to facilitate parole
Prohibits funds in the bill from being used for the CBP One app, or any successor app, that facilitates the entry of illegal immigrants into the country (including but not limited to parole).
Sanctuary cities
Bars money in the bill from going to any jurisdiction that refuses to comply with requests from DHS for advance notification of when a particular illegal alien is to be released from local custody.
Special interest aliens
Requires ICE to detain all Special Interest Aliens (SIAs) until their claim is adjudicated or they are deported, so that the SIAs are not released at large into our communities to continue their malign activities. A Special Interest Alien is an alien who, based upon analysis of travel patterns and other information, is found to have a nexus to terrorism, espionage, or other malign actors.
CLEAR Act
The CLEAR Act would reaffirm the right of state and local law enforcement to apprehend, detain, or transfer illegal aliens to federal custody. It would also allow federal funds to be allocated to states to offset the cost of detention for illegal aliens and institute a host of new requirements on DHS, such as constructing or acquiring additional detention space, and taking aliens into custody within 48 hours of a request from a state or locality.
POLICE Act
Makes assaulting a law enforcement officer, firefighter or first responder a deportable offense for illegal immigrants.
Transportation of illegal aliens by air
Prohibit taxpayer funds from being used to secretly fly illegal aliens from other nations directly into states across the country for resettlement.