• Home
  • Mail
  • News
  • Finance
  • Sports
  • Entertainment
  • Search
  • Mobile
  • More
Yahoo
    • Skip to Navigation
    • Skip to Main Content
    • Skip to Related Content
    • Mail
    Advertisement

    Pelosi Gives In To McConnell, Passes Senate Version Of Border Aid Bill

    Matt Fuller
    HuffPostJune 27, 2019
    Reblog
    Share
    Tweet
    Share

    WASHINGTON — In the end, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had to cave.

    Faced with a rebellion from moderates in her own party — as well as Republicans in both chambers who wouldn’t give in to a single provision — Pelosi pulled a border aid bill on Thursday that many House Democrats preferred and passed the Senate version of the legislation 305-102, with 95 Democrats and seven Republicans voting no.

    On Tuesday, the House passed a bill aimed at addressing the humanitarian crisis involving undocumented immigrants detained at the border. The vote was mostly along party lines, 234-195. The next day, the Senate passed its own bipartisan version of the bill, drafted by Sens. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) and Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), in an overwhelmingly bipartisan vote, 84-8.

    In retrospect, that was the moment when Pelosi lost. The California Democrat said there was no chance the House would simply pass the Senate bill. Instead, she said Democrats would pass a new bill with only a few changes to the Senate legislation. Those changes would have put additional restrictions on how the administration could spend the about $4.5 billion in the bill and would mandate basic conditions for border detention facilities ― provisions that progressives fought earlier this week to make sure were in the House legislation.

    But about a dozen and a half moderates in the so-called Problem Solvers Caucus said they would vote no on the new Democratic bill. Republicans in the House had also shown a resolve to not go along with anything but the Senate bill, which President Donald Trump said was the only border aid measure he would sign.

    That left Pelosi without the votes to pass even her compromise legislation, and she was forced to pull the bill from floor consideration. From there, the only thing the speaker could do — if she wanted to pass a border bill before the July Fourth recess — was put the Senate bill up for a vote.

    “We will not engage in the same disrespectful behavior that the Senate did in ignoring our priorities,” Pelosi wrote in a letter to House Democrats on Thursday. “In order to get resources to the children fastest, we will reluctantly pass the Senate bill.”

    “The children come first,” Pelosi added. “At the end of the day, we have to make sure that the resources needed to protect the children are available.”

    Democrats were adamant that the children should come first, but not everyone was in agreement that Democrats should give in to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) and other Republicans.

    Progressive Caucus Co-Chairman Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) asked in a tweet Thursday when the Problem Solvers Caucus had become “the Child Abuse Caucus.”

    “Wouldn’t they want to at least fight against contractors who run deplorable facilities? Kids are the only ones who could lose today,” Pocan said.

    Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) also criticized the decision to pass the Senate bill, tweeting that “under no circumstances” should the House vote on the Senate bill without negotiations. “Hell no,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “That’s an abdication of power we should refuse to accept. They will keep hurting kids if we do.”

    But Pelosi’s decision to pass the Senate bill was an acknowledgment that no amount of time was going to make McConnell give in. The Senate majority leader was adamant that Republicans would not negotiate.

    “We did not, in the end, continue to play political games over this,” McConnell said. “They did. And it’s their problem to solve.”

    He noted that Pelosi had spent time on Thursday talking to Vice President Mike Pence about ensuring that at least some of the Democratic requests could be handled administratively. It’s unclear whether Pelosi received any assurances in that regard, but the guardrails to stop the administration from transferring funds to other border purposes or to establish standards for treating children detained at the border aren’t in the Senate bill.

    Related Coverage

    House Democrats In A Bind Over Border Aid

    Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Puts Kellyanne Conway On Notice: 'You're Getting A Subpoena!'

    Damning Mueller Report In Hand, Democrats Punt To Robert Mueller

    Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today.

    This article originally appeared on HuffPost.

    Reblog
    Share
    Tweet
    Share

    What to Read Next

    • Turkey protests US Senate vote recognizing Armenian genocide

      Associated Press
    • The Progressive Caucus Used Freedom Caucus Tactics To Win On Prescription Drugs

      HuffPost
    • Rihanna Debuts on Forbes' 100 Most Powerful Women List -- Ahead of Beyoncé and Taylor Swift

      Entertainment Tonight
    • Pelosi says she won’t try to persuade Democrats on impeachment vote

      ABC News Videos
    • Trump: 'I'll do whatever I want' during Senate impeachment trial

      Yahoo News
    • Harvard Law Professor Warns How Mitch McConnell's Impeachment Strategy Could Backfire

      HuffPost
    • Ex-Lawmaker Thinks This Is The Slogan That Could Finally Topple Mitch McConnell

      HuffPost
    • Is Trump Immune From Investigation? The Supreme Court Will Soon Decide.

      HuffPost
    • Melania Trump Issued a Statement About Donald Trump Mocking Greta Thunberg

      InStyle
    • Judge: 234K Wisconsin voter registrations should be tossed; victory for conservatives

      Yahoo News Video
    • Bald Eagle Tries To Snag An Octopus, Instantly Regrets It

      HuffPost
    • Adam Sandler And Cole Sprouse Finally Had A ‘Big Daddy’ Reunion After 2 Decades

      HuffPost
    • Mitch McConnell Brags About Blocking Obama For 2 Years, Then Laughs About It

      HuffPost
    • Defeated governor pardons man convicted of decapitating woman and stuffing her body into barrel

      Yahoo News
    • Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warns Iran of 'decisive response' if harm in Iraq

      Yahoo News Video
    • Donald Trump Whines 'It's Not Fair' And Gets The Treatment On Twitter

      HuffPost

    Trump is considering boycotting the 2020 TV debates because he thinks the moderators are all biased against him

    LisaH: "The president is reportedly convinced that the Commission on Presidential Debates, the nonprofit organization that organizes debates, cannot be trusted to choose someone to fairly moderate them." Yeah, that's his reason...

    Join the Conversation
    1 / 5

    3.4k

    • White House Indicates Greta Thunberg Is Fair Game Because She's An 'Activist'

      HuffPost
    • Why The Idea Of 'Sex Drive' Is A Myth

      HuffPost
    • Democrats say surprise move to postpone impeachment vote was to head off GOP strategy of dragging the vote into the middle of the night

      Business Insider
    • Warren, dipping in the polls, attacks Biden and Buttigieg

      Yahoo News Video
    • Former Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin Pardons Donors' Relative On His Way Out

      HuffPost
    • Pete Buttigieg's 'I Trust You To Figure Out Your Health Care' Infuriates Twitter Critics

      HuffPost
    • How Bernie Sanders's Endorsement Of An Ally Blew Up In His Face

      HuffPost
    • Brazilians arrive in waves at the US-Mexico border

      Associated Press
    • Sanders retracts controversial endorsement less than 24 hours after making it

      Yahoo News Video
    • The Funniest Tweets From Parents This Week (Dec. 7-13)

      HuffPost Life
    • 'The Daily Show' Hits Fox News With 'Bombshell' Supercut Of Its Sexist Segments

      HuffPost
    • Adam Schiff Rips Donald Trump's Republicans Defenders: Their Most Shameful Hour

      HuffPost
    • Rep. Ilhan Omar Fires Sass At 'Conservative Squad' After Fox News Announcement

      HuffPost
    • SCOTUS justices set to tackle Trump financial records dispute

      Yahoo News Video
    • Here’s How Many Points Your Credit Score Drops When You Miss A Payment

      HuffPost Life
    • Fox News Host: We Must Impeach The Next Democratic President

      HuffPost