The House of Representatives returns from its month-long recess next week with all focus on extending government funding before it runs out at the end of the month. While the Senate did return this week, it focused mostly on nominations.
Most expect Congress to pass a Continuing Resolution to extend government spending at current levels into December. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is hoping to add a few policy riders to the CR, and Republicans may push for additional border security funding. But if Republicans were serious about using the appropriations process to reduce illegal immigration, they would be insisting on a CR into early 2023. The Senate could also take up its version of the National Defense Authorization Act in September.
You may remember that the House passed its version of the National Defense Authorization Act in July, but not before attaching a preemptive amnesty. The amnesty would give green cards to an estimated 190,000 children of foreign guest workers who are expected to fall out of legal status once they turn 21 years of age over the next few years. There is some support in the Senate for adding the amnesty to its version of the National Defense Authorization Act. (We have messages you can send to your GOP Members of Congress posted to your Action Board.)
Also on the table is a bipartisan proposal to give green cards to approximately 100,000 Afghan evacuees who were given parole by the Biden Administration after last year's botched U.S. evacuation from Afghanistan. Very few of these individuals qualify for either refugee status or the Special Immigrant Visas (SIV) that were created for Afghans who served as translators for U.S. troops.
Earlier this week, the DHS Inspector General released its audit on the Biden Administration's vetting process of the Afghan parolees and concluded that "DHS may have admitted or paroled individuals into the United States who pose a risk to national security and the safety of local communities." You can read more about the IG report here.
Additionally, farmers, with support from Sen. Mike Crapo (R-Id.), have increased the intensity behind their push to expand the Ag guest worker program and to grant amnesty to more than 1 million illegal farm workers. The Farm Workforce Modernization Act was passed by the House last summer and could receive consideration in the Senate this fall.
Our sleepy activism schedule for August has awakened with a jolt. Watch your emails carefully for action alerts the rest of the month.
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| Chris Chmielenski NumbersUSA Deputy Director |
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