Guns, Immigration and Zika Top Agenda as Congress Returns
By Matthew Daly ••
Gun control, immigration and money to combat the Zika virus top the congressional agenda as lawmakers sprint toward the political conventions this month and a seven-week summer recess.
Amid all that, Republicans plan to squeeze in a meeting with Donald Trump on Thursday.
The House and Senate have just eight legislative days before their break, and lawmakers have scheduled a handful of politically charged votes with implications for incumbents in November's election. In the House, legislation to fight terrorism and a gun control measure that already failed in the Senate are planned for this week.
House Speaker Paul Ryan said a GOP plan to keep suspected terrorists from obtaining firearms would do so "without compromising a citizen's basic bill of rights," including the rights to bear arms and receive due process under the law.
In the Senate, immigration bills and legislation to impose labeling on genetically modified food are on tap. Unclear is whether Republicans and Democrats can resolve the dispute over funds for the mosquito-borne Zika virus now that summer is in full swing, or whether the matter will have to wait until September when Congress returns.
Back in February, President Barack Obama requested $1.9 billion in emergency money to fight Zika, which causes grave birth defects and has infected 287 pregnant women in the United States and 250 in U.S. territories, according to the most recent numbers from the Centers for Disease Control.
Congress has failed to fund the request as the issue has been caught up in partisan fights and the typical dysfunction. House Republicans rammed through a bill that would provide $1.1 billion by cutting money from other government agencies. The legislation, to the anger of Democrats, would bar new funding for Planned Parenthood clinics in Puerto Rico and allow pesticide spraying that environmentalists argue would be harmful.
Senate Democrats have blocked the bill and another vote is expected this week, although progress is unlikely.
GUN CONTROL
Bowing to election-year pressure from Democrats, Ryan, R-Wis., says the House will vote on a GOP proposal aimed at keeping suspected terrorists from obtaining firearms, a measure backed by the National Rifle Association.
Democrats want to vote on their own gun control bills, and they haven't ruled out a return to disruptive tactics if they're rebuffed. Ryan indicated on Tuesday that Democrats are unlikely to get a vote.
Democrats staged a sit-in on the House floor that lasted nearly 26 hours last month to call attention to their demand for gun-control votes.
AFP/Getty Images
Nicole Edwards and her wife Kellie Edwards observe a moment of silence during a vigil outside the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts for the mass shooting victims at the Pulse nightclub June 13, 2016, in Orlando, Florida.
Getty Images
People hold candles during an evening memorial service for the victims of the Pulse Nightclub shootings, at the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts, June 13, 2016, in Orlando, Florida. The shooting at Pulse Nightclub, which killed 49 people and injured 53, is the worst mass-shooting event in American history.
AP
Demetrice Naulings cries while recalling how he survived the mass shooting at the Pulse nightclub that claimed the life of his friend Eddie Justice, June 14, 2016, in Orlando, Florida. "I'm not going to get a chance to get another friend like," said Naulings. "Eddie was my angel."
AP
Angel Colon, a victim of the Pulse nightclub shooting, is kissed by his sister while attending a news conference at the Orlando Regional Medical Center, June 14, 2016, in Orlando, Florida.
LA Times via Getty Images
Orlando, second from right, and his family attend a vigil and church service held at Joy Metropolitan Community Church near the Pulse nightclub. Orlando, who declined to give his last name, was at Pulse, trapped for three hours in a bathroom.
AP
David Rivera holds a rainbow flag at the site of a candlelight vigil for the victims of the Orlando, Florida, nightclub shooting, June 12, 2016, in Atlanta. The vigil was organized by members of the city's large LGBT community.
Getty Images
A man attends a candlelight vigil for the victims of the Pulse Nightclub shooting in Orlando, Florida, at Newtown Neighbourhood Centre on June 13, 2016, in Sydney, Australia.
AP
Family members wait for word from police after arriving down the street from a shooting involving multiple fatalities at Pulse Orlando nightclub in Orlando, Florida,, June 12, 2016.
AP
Bomb disposal officers check for bombs at an apartment complex possibly linked to the fatal shootings at an Orlando nightclub, June 12, 2016, in Fort Pierce, Florida.
AP
Angel Mendez, standing outside the Orlando Regional Medical Center, holds up a cell phone photo trying to get information about his brother Jean C. Mendez that was at the Pulse Nightclub where a shooting involving multiple fatalities occurred, June 12, 2016, in Orlando, Florida.
AP
A police officer stands guard outside the Orlando Regional Medical Center hospital after a fatal shooting at a nearby Pulse Orlando nightclub in Orlando, Florida, June 12, 2016.
AP
An injured man is escorted out of the Pulse nightclub after a shooting rampage, June 12, 2016, in Orlando, Florida.
NBC6.com
Donors lineup to donate blood following a mass shooting at an Orlando nightclub.
AP
People wait outside the emergency entrance of the Orlando Regional Medical Center hospital after a shooting involving multiple fatalities at Pulse Orlando nightclub in Orlando, Florida, June 12, 2016.
AP, File
Emergency personnel wait with stretchers at the emergency entrance to Orlando Regional Medical Center hospital for the arrival of patients from the scene of a fatal shooting at Pulse Orlando nightclub in Orlando, Florida, June 12, 2016.
AP
Terry DeCarlo, executive director of the LGBT Center of Central Florida, center, is comforted by Orlando City Commissioner Patty Sheehan, right, after a shooting involving multiple fatalities at a nightclub in Orlando, Florida, June 12, 2016.
AFP/Getty Images
President Barack Obama arrives to make a statement on the mass shooting at an Orlando, Florida, nightclub in the White House Briefing Room in Washington, DC on June 12, 2016.
AP
Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer, second from right, and Orlando Police Chief John Mina arrive to a news conference after a fatal shooting at Pulse Orlando nightclub in Orlando, Florida, June 12, 2016.
AP
Jermaine Towns, left, and Brandon Shuford wait down the street from a multiple shooting at a nightclub in Orlando, Florida, June 12, 2016. Towns said his brother was in the club at the time.
Getty Images
Orlando police officers are seen outside of Pulse nightclub after a fatal shooting and hostage situation on June 12, 2016, in Orlando, Florida.
AP
FBI assistant special agent in charge Ron Hopper, center, answers questions from members of the media after a fatal shooting at Pulse Orlando nightclub in Orlando, Florida, June 12, 2016. Listening are Orlando Police Chief John Mina, left, and Orange County Mayor Teresa Jacobs.
AP
An Orange County Sheriff's Department SWAT member arrives to the scene of a fatal shooting at Pulse Orlando nightclub in Orlando, Florida, Sunday, June 12, 2016.
Getty Images
Members of the Orlando City Fire Rescue seen around Pulse nightclub after a fatal shooting and hostage situation on June 12, 2016, in Orlando, Florida.
Getty Images
ORLANDO, FL - JUNE 12: FBI agents investigate near the damaged rear wall of the Pulse Nightclub where Omar Mateen allegedly killed at least 50 people on June 12, 2016 in Orlando, Florida. The mass shooting killed at least 50 people and injuring 53 others in what is the deadliest mass shooting in the countryu00d5s history. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
AP
Bystanders wait down the street from a mass shooting at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Fla., Sunday, June 12, 2016.
AP
Brandon Shuford, left, waits down the street from the scene of a shooting involving multiple fatalities at a nightclub in Orlando, Fla., Sunday, June 12, 2016.
The sit-in followed the June 12 mass shooting in Orlando, Florida, that killed 49 people and heightened attention on the national toll taken by firearms.
The GOP bill would let the government block firearms purchases for suspected terrorists, but only if prosecutors can prove in court that the buyer is involved in terrorism. It would also establish a new office within the Department of Homeland Security to focus on preventing extremist groups from recruiting followers.
Democrats say the Republican bill is too weak. They want votes on one measure expanding background check requirements for gun buyers, and a second banning firearms sales to terror suspects without requiring prosecutors to first prove the buyer was embarking on terrorism.
IMMIGRATION
Senate Democrats are expected to block a GOP bill that would withhold congressional funding from so-called sanctuary cities that shield residents from federal immigration authorities. Republicans also are proposing a bill to impose a mandatory minimum sentence of five years for any person who illegally re-enters the country after being removed.
Getty Images
Since October, 52,000 unaccompanied undocumented children have made their way across the U.S.-Mexico border. The Obama administration proposed to Congress $3.7 billion be given to the Department of Health and Human Services, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Protection to help ease the overwhelming problem of Central American children and families seeking refuge in the United States.
AP
By the time these undocumented children make it to the U.S.-Mexico border, they have traveled over 1,000 miles by car, train, raft or foot from various countries in Central America.
AP
The United States is not the only country seeing an uptick in migrant children. Almost all Central American countries have been dealing with an overwhelming wave of families seeking refugee from their home countries. El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala. Mexico, Panama, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Beliza together have seen a 712 increase in the number of people seeking asylum.
With a large percentage of the drug trade in Central America and police forces unwilling or unable to handle drug cartels, children are often recruited as "foot soldiers". Children and their families have the choice to help the dangerous cartel or be killed.
AP
Poverty and violence are huge driving factors for children traveling to the border. Nearly 58 percent of children reported to travel North because of violent conditions at home. In Honduras, two-thirds of the population live under the poverty line. Guatemala's poverty rate is 26 percent. In El Salvador, 17 percent of the population is living on less than $2
AP
Republicans, especially Jon Boehner, have criticized the president's 2012 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. The political party said the president has failed in enforcing this border policy that gives some undocumented migrants temporary legal status. Boehner said this gives Central American families "false hope".
AP
Immigration officials are having a hard time finding shelter for the high number of new arrivals. Dallas County in Texas agreed to shelter 2,000 children in unused hospitals and schools with Federal government funds. Some organizations and families are even fostering some of the lost children.
AFP/Getty Images
As an attempt to tackle the problem at its root, the Obama administration has earmarked $300 million for programs in Central America that should boost the quality of life of people in these countries.
AP
Republican members of Congress wants to put more focus on border security instead of amnesty for the children refugees. Texas Gov. Rick Perry insisted that unaccompanied kids should be deported immediately. Advocates for migrants say future funding should go to ensuring asylum to children with legitimate claims in court instead of border security.
AP
The U.S. Border Patrol was already noticing an increase in children coming up from Central America in the fall of 2011. 52,000 children crossing the border is double the number in 2012 and triple the number in 2011, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
Getty Images
Immigrant rights activist Mary Estrada (R) speaks with anti-immigration activists during a protest outside of the U.S. Border Patrol Murrieta Station on July 7, 2014 in Murrieta, California. Immigration protesters have staged rallies in front of the station for about a week in response to a wave of undocumented immigrant children caught along the U.S.-Mexico border in Texas and transported to the Murrieta facility while awaiting deportation proceedings.
BLOOMBERG NEWS
A bipartisan law that President George W. Bush signed in 2008, known as the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act, seeks to combat sex trafficking by granting protections to children traveling alone from countries that are not Mexico or Canada. Under the law, unaccompanied children canu2019t be hastily sent back home. The Obama administration said the law is partly to blame for the crisis.
Getty Images
When children crossing the border are apprehended, they are brought and held to a detention center. They will then be transferred to the Office of Refugee Resettlement's Division of Children Services (ORR/DCS) which could be group homes or juvenile detention centers surrounded by barbed wire. If the ORR/DCS cannot locate the child's family or guardian within 55 days, the child will remain in DCS custody until the immigration case is complete before being sent back home.
Getty Images
While visiting Texas, President Obama urged Congress to approve the $3.7 billion he asked for to help deal with surge of unaccompanied children border-crossers. Officials at the United Nations want many of the people fleeing Central America to be treated as refugees displaced by armed conflict. This designation would increase pressure on the U.S. and Mexico to accept tens of thousands of people currently ineligible for asylum, according to The Associated Press.
Republicans have pushed for action since last year when 32-year-old Kathryn Steinle was shot in San Francisco. The man charged in the killing was in the country illegally despite a long criminal record and multiple prior deportations. He had been released by San Francisco authorities despite a request from federal immigration authorities to keep him detained.
FAA REAUTHORIZATION
Key House and Senate lawmakers are close to a deal on a bill to extend the Federal Aviation Administration's programs and policies, which are due to expire on July 15. Rep. Bill Shuster, R-Pa., chairman of the House Transportation Committee, has agreed to temporarily drop his contentious plan to privatize the nation's air traffic control system in order to allow a bill to move forward.
Negotiations have focused on what policy provisions to include in the extension. There is strong support in both chambers to include an array of proposals to enhance airports security in light of recent airport attacks in Istanbul and Brussels. Proposals to extend new protections to airline consumers, relax medical requirements for private pilots and lift some restrictions on commercial drone flights are also under discussion.
TRUMP
House and Senate Republicans are slated to meet with the GOP's presumptive presidential nominee less than two weeks before the party convention in Cleveland. Among those expected to attend the separate sessions are Sens. Bob Corker of Tennessee, Jeff Sessions of Alabama and Joni Ernst of Iowa, all of whom have been mentioned as possible running mates for the blustery billionaire.
Trump's short list of possible vice presidential candidates is heavy with Washington insiders who could help usher his agenda through Congress.
