Border Security Committees Include Welfare Committees

Securing the border is one of the most important priorities of the American people. The budget reconciliation process will allow Congress and the Trump Administration to take serious steps to crack down on the chaos at the border. Committees that deal with physical infrastructure, border enforcement, and deportation will not be the only key players in reconciliation. The welfare committees should also be recognized as essential to border security efforts.

Secure The Border and End the Pull Factors of Illegal Immigration

Vital investments are needed in physical barriers, technology, and personnel to enforce our nation’s immigration laws and stop the flow of human and drug trafficking. Additionally, lawmakers must reduce incentives for illegal immigration. Under current policies, illegal aliens are eligible for billions of dollars’ worth of taxpayer provided benefits. These cash, health care, education, and food benefit programs are a significant pull factor for migration. Reconciliation legislation must also fix the loopholes in these programs.

Reconciliation Begins with the Budget Resolution

The budget reconciliation process includes two basic steps that must be completed in the House and Senate before the reconciliation bill is sent to the president to be signed into law. First, Congress must adopt a budget resolution providing reconciliation instructions to committees in the House and Senate. Only then can the drafting of the actual reconciliation bill begin by the authorizing committees in both chambers.

The Reconciliation Instructions in the Budget Resolution Are Key

The instructions in the budget resolution are key to the entire reconciliation process. The instructions establish the framework for the reconciliation legislation by providing fiscal targets for specific committees. If a committee does not receive a reconciliation instruction in the budget resolution, then no policies in that committee’s jurisdiction can be included in the reconciliation bill. In the Senate, the Byrd Rule could derail the entire bill if a single provision in the reconciliation bill is outside the jurisdiction of the instructed committees.

Border Security Committees Must Receive Reconciliation Instructions

It is essential that the budget resolution provide instructions to all committees that deal with border security issues. U.S. Customs and Border Patrol and physical infrastructure like the border wall are in the jurisdiction of the House Committee on Homeland Security and Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs (HSGAC). U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) and other internal immigration enforcement efforts are within the jurisdiction of the House and Senate Judiciary Committees. But what about the welfare programs that are a pull factor for migration?  It turns out that several other committees in the House and Senate are in fact border security committees.

Congressional Committees to Stop the Pull Factor of Welfare for Migrants

In the Senate, the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, the Committee on Finance, and the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) have jurisdiction over welfare programs for which aliens can be eligible.

Senate Committee Jurisdiction on Welfare Programs for Migrants
Agriculture	Finance	HELP
Food Stamps	Child Tax Credit (CTC)	Child Nutrition
	Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC)	Pell Grant
	Obamacare Premium tax Credit (PTC)	Student Loans
	Supplemental Security Income (SSI)
	Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)
	Child Care and Development Block Grant
	Medicare
	Medicaid
	Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP)
	Obamacare Cost Sharing Subsidies
	Qualified Health Centers

In the House, the Committee on Agriculture, the Committee on Education and the Workforce, the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and the Committee on Ways and Means have jurisdiction over welfare programs for which aliens can be eligible.

House Committee Jurisdiction on Welfare Programs for Migrants
Agriculture	Education and Workforce	Energy and Commerce	Ways and Means
Food Stamps	Child Nutrition	Medicaid	Child Tax Credit (CTC)
	Pell Grant	Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP)	Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC)
	Student Loans	Obamacare Cost Sharing Subsidies	Obamacare Premium tax Credit (PTC)
		Qualified Health Centers	Supplemental Security Income (SSI)
			Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)
			Child Care and Development Block Grant
			Medicare

These committees should focus on closing the loopholes through the budget reconciliation process to cut off the billions in welfare benefits that the federal government spends on illegal aliens.

Border Security Committees Include Welfare Committees

Congress should use the reconciliation process to secure the border and end the pull factors of illegal immigration. To do so, lawmakers must first start the reconciliation process by adopting a budget resolution that provides reconciliation instructions to the correct committees in the House and Senate. It is essential that the budget resolution provide reconciliation instructions to all the committees that have jurisdiction over the federal welfare programs that provide taxpayer benefits to aliens. Without enabling these committees to contribute to border security efforts in reconciliation, the costly pull factor will not end.