Comment: Appropriations War

There is a surprising and important twist at the end of 116th Congress and at the end of President Trump's term in office, this twist has some immigration consequences.

Trump has vetoed the NDAA for two principal reasons as stated by him: It removes the names of Confederate generals from Army bases and because it does not repeal Section 230 which conservatives claim is used by social media to discriminate against them. Congress knew the veto was coming and has the votes to override, which will happen next week, in a rare holiday-period session.

The more surprising development is that Trump has come out against the appropriations bill which was crafted through active and sustained participation of his own administration under his own direction. The stated reason for his opposition is that he wants a $2,000 stimulus check instead of the $600 stimulus checks and because it contains wasteful spending, especially payments to foreign countries. This is in bad faith because he is objecting now to his own budget proposal that Congress accepted. Republican Congressman Gonzalez (R-OH) points out that "If @realDonaldTrump didn't want money going to foreign countries, he shouldn't have asked for it." The above are not his real reasons, which is clear from the 5 minute video tweeted by Mr.Trump. In it, he rails against all the issues that his own administration had supported. An examination of the issues shows that this is aimed squarely at punishing Senate Majority Leader McConnell who acknowledged President-Elect Biden's victory and the Republican Chair of Appropriations, Sen. Shelby, who supported Jeff Sessions in his primary in their home state of Alabama. The $2,000 stimulus check is simply a fig leaf to fool his base. At this point, President Trump does not seem to actually care about the Repulblican Party, or his Republican base and is doing what he feels is expedient in his own interest--depending on P T Barnum's maxim that "There's a Sucker Born Every Minute". Speaker Pelosi is capitalizing on this pitched in-fighting among Republicans first by bringing the $2,000 to a voice vote this morning (which Republicans opposed and killed) and then to a full floor vote on Monday to put Republicans on the record. The Republican Senate is not likely to bring the $2,000 check to the floor, even should the House pass it.

The most important thing to note is that ordinarily, if the President does not sign a bill it automatically becomes a law in 10 days - BUT NOT IF Congress is adjourned this is called a Pocket Veto Unfortunately, Congress engaged in brinkmanship for too long and time has run out. The 116th Congress constitutionally adjourns for the last time on January 3rd. If the Appropriations bill is not signed by the President by then, the bill expires and will have to be taken up again by the next Congress. This would be resetting the entire appropriations process --throwing away 7 months of work on appropriations by both Parties and both Chambers. Congress is expected to pass a continuing resolution on Monday to keep the government open (our best guess is till February) but it is likely that the appropriations bill will happen only in the next Congress. President Trump in his bad faith opposition to appropriations bill provisions that his administration submitted, is taking on the entirety of Congress. The trail of destruction President Trump is likely to leave behind in his vengeance against his "enemies" includes the Republican party, the Republican base, possibly the Georgia Senate election, businesses and Americans counting on provisions in the appropriations bill. He is using the red herring of $2,000 payments as a cover to carry out his war against those who have crossed him (Senators McConnell and Shelby).

What does this mean for immigration? There were modest immigration provisions in the appropriations bill such as decoupling of EB-5 from appropriations and modest benefits for H-2Bs. These will have to wait for the next Congress .

President Trump in the past has railed against a Trillion+ Dollars appropriations bill for a few days and then signed it after scoring political brownie points. He is currently trying to look like a hero for those who would like a $2,000 stimulus check. There is a remote possibility that after putting on a show for his base, he will go ahead and sign it. However, given his dire political situation, with the sun setting on his Presidency, and with Congress's counting of Electoral Votes looming, there may not be enough upside for him to relent. So, off we all go on a wild roller coaster ride with President Trump.

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