The Senate confirmed yesterday by a vote of 62 – 37 Kirstjen Nielsen to lead the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). She replaces John Kelly, who resigned from that position to become the White House Chief of Staff. She served most recently as the White House Deputy Chief of Staff under Kelly. She also worked for Kelly before joining the White House staff as his chief of staff at DHS.
Category: Immigration
Congress Returns to Face a Full Plate
Both chambers of Congress return to DC this week after their Thanksgiving recess last week and face a long “to-do” list.
The Senate is currently expected to bring up its version of a tax bill this week and there is still uncertainty about its fate. President Trump and the Congressional Republicans have set out the December holiday period as their self-imposed deadline for signing into law tax reform legislation. The House passed its version on a nearly partisan vote just before recessing for Thanksgiving, with 13 Republicans joining every Democrat in opposing the bill.
It still remains to be seen at this point whether there is enough Republican Senate support to get a bill passed. No Democrats are currently expected to support the bill, and further complicating the process are the push to include a repeal of the Affordable Care Act individual health insurance mandate as well as the concerns of a handful of Senators about the impact of the bill on the federal debt.
Even though FY2018 started on October 1, none of the 12 individual funding bills have been signed into law and the government is currently operating under a temporary funding measure that expires at midnight, December 9. Part of the delay in finalizing the final budget for FY2018 is due to the lack of an agreement on how much total funding is available for the year. Negotiations are currently taking place between the senior leaders in both chambers and representatives from the Administration about the top line funding levels for the rest of this year and potentially for next year. Another short-term temporary package to keep the government funded past the December 9 deadline will most likely be needed to buy more time for the negotiators.
At the same time, there are discussions underway, at least among Congressional Democrats, about trying to tie a legislative fix on DACA/Dreamers to the end-of-the-year funding package. Several Democrats have been very vocal about their support for such a move.
Potentially complicating the “to-do” list further is the sexual harassment controversies that have surfaced recently in both chambers.
Third Travel Ban Partially Ok’ed by Federal Court
On Monday, a panel of judges in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals allowed a version of the Trump Administration’s third travel ban to take effect. The proposed ban, which was originally slated to take effect last month, sought to bar many kinds of travelers from eight countries, including those from Chad, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Somalia, Syria, and Yemen. Before itcould take effect, suits were filed against the Administration in the Fourth Circuit and the Ninth Circuit.
In their decision, the judges ruled that the government could implement the ban but not on those individuals with “a bona fide relationship with a person or an entity in the United States.” The appeal in the Fourth Circuit has not yet been heard.
Read more here.
Nominee for DHS Secretary Named
At a White House ceremony yesterday, Kirstjen Nielsen was introduced by President Trump as his nominee to lead the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The previous secretary, John Kelly, is now the White House Chief of Staff. Elaine Duke is currently serving as the Acting Secretary of DHS.
Nielsen is currently the principal deputy chief of staff under Kelly and worked for him as well when he ran DHS.
Read more about the nomination here and here.
DACA Deal Proposed
President Trump released a list of measures to restrict immigration that the Administration wants in exchange for passing the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program into law. The White House called for the border wall; tougher penalties for asylum fraud; faster deportation of unaccompanied minors; a grant cutoff to sanctuary cities; restriction of permanent-residency sponsorship by U.S. citizens to spouses and minor children; and a merit-based points system for green cards.
The documents do not specify whether all of the President’s policy demands need to be included in a legislative deal to codify DACA.
Politico has posted both the executive summary and the seven-page principles and policies document.