Ferox Strategies and CT Strategies return with May Homeland Security Budget Update

The homeland security appropriations process entered a new stage in May as the House and Senate Appropriations Committees placed the finishing touches on their FY 2019 Homeland Security funding bills. However, the House and Senate are far apart on how much money to spend on homeland security priorities like border and customs enforcement, immigration enforcement, and disaster relief. The House’s plan would spend about $4 billion more on these priorities than the Senate, angering Democrats and complicating development of a final bill.

Intraparty drama eclipsed any partisan debate in May, as the moderate and conservative wings of the Republican Party faced off in a brewing battle over immigration policy. Aiming to appeal to voters in swing districts ahead of an expected “Blue Wave” in the 2018 midterms, GOP moderates bucked leadership to demand votes on a range of ideologically-aligned border and immigration proposals over objections. Also in this month’s Budget Update:

• Congressman Kevin Yoder (R-KS) is the new “cardinal” of the House Appropriations Homeland Security Subcommittee, but what sort of chairman will he be? The moderate Republican from suburban Kansas faces a tough re-election in a swing district. He entered the national spotlight last year supporting the widow of an anti-immigrant hate crime victim in securing long-term residency, which he said helped him understand the failures of the immigration system. However, Yoder must also negotiate the hardline demands of the Trump Administration and the conservative wing of the GOP, fielding calls for border walls and immigration enforcement hiring surges.
  
  
• The Trump Administration prepares to move the goalposts for border wall funding, requesting more dollars months after sending their formal requests to Capitol Hill. Even GOP allies to the White House remain suspicious of a southern border wall, but President Trump has upped the ante by threatening to veto any funding bill that doesn’t support his immigration and border policies.
  
  Will the House, against all odds, advance a new immigration and border bill? Can appropriators keep up with the White House’s changing demands and avoid a shutdown in October? Check out our May Budget Update, from Ferox Strategies and CT Strategies, for the latest!
  
  

  Read The Update