As we enter the last week of the House’s two-week recess, Democrats will gather for a virtual caucus meeting this evening to plot the path forward on Department of Homeland Security appropriations.
In truth, Democrats have taken a back seat during the ongoing DHS shutdown as Republicans internally squabbled. Democrats support the Senate-passed bill that funds the department without allocating any funds to ICE or CBP. And leaders don’t expect a ton of defections.
Who might vote against it? Progressives who are dismayed that the bill does nothing to rein in ICE, as well as Democrats with competitive primary challenges and those running for higher office.
Everyone on the left strongly opposes the GOP’s plan to fund ICE and CBP for three years through reconciliation. Nor will Democrats support the Reconciliation 2.0 or 3.0 effort, given it doesn’t include reforms to the controversial border enforcement agencies.
The Democratic leadership’s whereabouts. While some House members took the first recess week to relax, others stuck to business. Here’s what the top House Democrats have been up to since leaving town on March 27.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries spent the start of the recess in Dallas and Houston, where he attended three fundraisers for the DCCC. The New York Democrat also toured a construction site with LiUNA Local 350 in the Buffalo Bayou section of Houston.
Back in Brooklyn, Jeffries presented community project funding connected to public housing developments, attended church services and hosted an annual Easter hat pageant.
House Minority Whip Katherine Clark started out recess in New York City for fundraisers and an in-studio cable news appearance.
Back in the district, Clark took part in a veterans’ food distribution event in Revere, Mass., and delivered a $3.1 million earmark check at a Framingham, Mass., community center. Clark also met with representatives from the Union of Concerned Scientists on federal cuts to research and science funding.
House Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar met with officials in his district and held events on rising transportation and food prices with a local business.
