House Homeland Security Committee members advanced a list of budget reconciliation recommendations on April 29, including a proposed $47 billion for border wall construction.
The panel also approved $5 billion for Customs and Border Protection facilities, $6 billion for agency personnel and vehicles, nearly $4 billion for technological enhancements, and $950 million for grant programs.
“It’s critical that the Republican majority do what the people elected us to do: approve the funds for effective border security and enforcement measures. And that’s what these recommendations do,” Rep. Mark Green (R-Tenn.), the committee’s chairman, said in opening the meeting.
Congress approved a budget blueprint, endorsed by President Donald Trump, earlier this month. Lawmakers are now fine-tuning the details of that plan through the reconciliation process, which allows for the passage of budgetary bills in the Senate with a simple majority vote and without the 60-vote hurdle of a filibuster….