Laken Riley Act Marches Swiftly Toward Final Passage in Senate
Plus, Thune steamrolled Schumer last night on amendments for SR. 5.
WASHINGTON — On January 6, the House swiftly passed the controversial H.R. 29, known as the Laken Riley Act, in just three hours. Despite fiery objections from Democrats, Speaker Johnson kept his party united, ensuring the bill's approval. Surprisingly, 48 Democrats also supported the measure. No amendments were proposed, debated, or voted on, and the bill was sent to the Senate the same day.
In the Senate, the bill, now labeled S.5, has steamrolled over half-hearted objections by Democrats. Debate opened after the Senate passed a motion to proceed 82-10 on Monday with Republican Speaker Thune allowing debate on up to five amendments. Many Democrats insisted on protecting DACA recipients and minors as a non-negotiable condition. Without these amendments, many Democrats who voted for the motion to proceed would not commit to final passage.
What amendments were proposed, and by whom, was kept under wraps until we scooped Monday night the fifteen amendments that had been filed. At the time, only Amendment 8 by Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA) had been approved by Thune.
By Wednesday morning, amendments to the Laken Riley Act had more than tripled to 49 filed, with more on the way. By mid-afternoon, Thune approved two more of the five amendments he would allow on the bill, proposals by Senator John Cornyn and Senator Chris Coons. At 5:50 PM, the Senate convened to vote on the two amendments.
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What followed was a classic ideological standoff. Democrats rallied around Cornyn’s amendment, which expanded deportable offenses in the bill. Coons’ proposal removed sweeping authorities for state attorneys general to sue the federal government over immigration e they deem to be harmful to their residents.
Critics fear Laken Riley Act will empower Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton to sanction Honduras over deportation flights, or sue ICE over releasing individual migrants from custody, or end the H1B program altogether, creating more chaos in an immigration system everyone seems to agree is broken.
Republicans refused to budge, and Democrats couldn’t muster the votes to push Coons’s amendment through. Senators Coons, Cory Booker, and Amy Klobuchar huddled together in heated debate, frustration etched on their faces as the amendment was defeated.
The disappointment was palpable after the vote —Senator Chuck Schumer walked out of the Capitol building looking dejected, refusing to answer questions about what had just happened on the Senate floor.
By Thursday morning, seventy-eights amendments had been filed by Senators for the Laken Rile Act. Only two more are expected to be approved for debate by Thune before a final passage vote that could come as early as this afternoon.
Senator Katie Britt (R-AL) is confident she has the Democratic votes needed to pass the Laken Riley Act, which remains entirely unfunded, despite cost projections of around $80 billion over three years.
Britt said the Laken Riley Act will be funded by a reconciliation package or in the regular appropriations process, neither of which is a given, even with a Republican trifecta in the House, Senate, and White House.
If the Senate passes her bill this afternoon, it can (and probably will) be on Donald Trump’s desk in the Oval Office by Inauguration Day, January 20.