OPINION:
I spent nearly a decade on Capitol Hill. As a former Senate chief of staff, I have had a front-row seat to numerous funding battles. They can get messy quickly.
None has been messier than the current one.
Democrats have blocked funding of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection for months. With Iran threatening to send terrorist cells to American soil, we cannot afford to leave our border and internal immigration enforcement agencies unfunded.
Republicans must employ a rifle shot approach to reconciliation to ensure that ICE and CBP are funded.
House Budget Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington has said Congress must wrap up funding by July 4. President Trump has said “no later than June 1st.” The Senate has 19 legislative days through June 1 and 36 days through July 4.
On top of that, Congress still must pass the reauthorization of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and other legislative priorities. Time is a luxury we don’t have. The deck is stacked.
Put simply, a shot clock is hanging over reconciliation, and it’s not forgiving.
Congress punted on FISA 702 reauthorization until April 30 despite Mr. Trump’s demand for an 18-month clean extension. The National Defense Authorization Act, one of the few must-pass bills in Congress, expires Sept. 30.
Add to this the Farm Bill, last reauthorized in 2018, and the picture becomes clearer.
Some member priorities, such as military programs and the SAVE America Act, are well-intentioned, but every Congress has priorities. The core of border enforcement is being held hostage as we face growing threats from within and abroad. Every add-on becomes another negotiation and a potential hiccup.
That’s not even taking into account unexpected events that can chew up legislative days. A natural disaster emergency funding request, the retirement of a Supreme Court justice — these things can happen at any time, and history shows they will.
The midterm elections are fast approaching. If ICE and CBP reconciliation doesn’t pass before members leave to campaign, then the chance it won’t pass at all this Congress is real.
Members will want to be in their states and districts campaigning for reelection. Both parties are raising record money with control of Congress on the line. Should even one chamber flip, things will grind to a halt, which means a bloated reconciliation bill that stalls.
It risks leaving ICE and CBP unfunded heading into an election year and potentially beyond. Even a lame-duck session offers no guarantee because a newly empowered Democratic minority will have every incentive to run out the clock.
Democrats have called for the abolishment of ICE and routinely demonize its agents. Democratic leaders Charles E. Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries have said that ICE agents have “terrorized communities.” Rep. Shri Thanedar introduced the Abolish ICE Act. New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani called ICE “a cruel and inhumane agency that does nothing to serve in the interest of public safety.”
Rep. Summer Lee stood outside ICE headquarters and called the agency “a terrorist organization in our own streets.”
These are the people who would be back at the table. You should believe someone when they tell you who they are. The Democrats want to abolish ICE. They will not fund it under any circumstances.
The members who load a reconciliation bill right up until it collapses under its own weight will own that outcome. The voters will not be forgiving.
Every day that ICE and CBP go unfunded is a day that criminal illegal aliens who should be removed remain here. That bill comes due. The border doesn’t close because Congress can’t get its act together. Border enforcement is reduced while Iran is threatening to send cells here. This shot clock doesn’t reset.
We cannot afford hiccups, nor can we afford the risk that comes with zero border enforcement and no removal of criminal illegal aliens.
That’s why the prudent path for reconciliation 2.0 is a rifle shot approach. ICE and CBP funding, period. This is not a time to roll the dice or lose focus. Too much is on the line.
• Chuck Flint is executive director of the Coalition for Affordability and Prosperity.
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