The House Appropriations Committee approved a bill Wednesday that would inject $2.1 billion into border wall construction and would prod the Biden administration to stop slow-walking the building effort.
The bill, which cleared on a 33-25 vote, would also add thousands of agents to the ranks of the Border Patrol and expand the amount of detention beds available to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to hold illegal immigrants.
But it was the wall that drew the most heat during action in the House Appropriations Committee, where Democrats complained that the money was being wasted.
“This wall is a Byzantine idea that is weaponized every four years for political points. It’s as simple as that. It’s a bad idea,” said Rep. Adriano Espaillat, New York Democrat, as he ticked off instances of walls he called failures, including the Berlin Wall and the Great Wall of China.
Fueled by that sentiment, Democrats made futile attempts to strip out wall money and use it for other programs.
One attempt to shift wall money to drug-smuggling detection was shot down on a 33-23 vote. Another attempt to move wall money to programs that pay local communities to help resettle illegal immigrants lost on a 32-25 vote. A third attempt to shift $20 million to a Coast Guard icebreaker failed 34-25.
Republicans defended the wall money, saying border barriers have proved successful.
“We hear consistently from the boots on the ground that walls work,” said Rep. Dave Joyce, Ohio Republican and chairman of the subcommittee that oversees Homeland Security’s spending.
The wall has been a source of political conflict dating back to the 2006 law that authorized 700 miles of the border be sealed off with fencing. That drew bipartisan support, including the vote of then-Sens. Barack Obama and Joseph R. Biden Jr., but also helped fuel a backlash among immigrant-rights groups who called the idea offensive.
Some 650 miles of barriers were eventually erected, though only about 350 miles was fencing. The rest of the wall consisted of vehicle barriers that were easily penetrated by people.
Fast-forward to the 2016 campaign and then-candidate Donald Trump made the wall his signature issue, promising Mexico would pay for it. He left office having erected more than 450 miles of new barriers, though most of that consisted of upgrades to the older wall. Mexico did not cut a check to pay for the construction, funds came instead from Congress.
Democrats said Mr. Trump’s involvement should have poisoned the entire idea.
“How anyone here can continue to support him is surely not leadership,” said Rep. David Trone, Maryland Democrat, who called Mr. Trump a “narcissist” and “delusional.”
The House bill funds the government’s homeland security activities for fiscal year 2024, which starts in October. The money covers the Secret Service, the Coast Guard, three immigration agencies, emergency management, cyber defense and other components of Homeland Security.
Republicans, while calling for cuts in other domestic spending, are pumping new money into homeland security, with a $2.1 billion raise over 2023 levels.
Part of the bill would direct Homeland Security to begin wall construction.
That’s intended to overcome hurdles Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has erected to spending roughly $2 billion in wall money Congress already approved. That funding was waiting as President Biden took office, but remains unspent.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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