Omnibus Bill Boosts Border Security Funding for Foreign Nations, Prohibits It in U.S.

The more than 4,000-page, $1.7 trillion omnibus spending bill prohibits funds for U.S. border security but it provides funding for border security in foreign nations.

Democrats need at least 10 votes from GOP senators to pass the legislation, which was unveiled on Tuesday. Congressional leaders are rushing to pass it before the Christmas break.

House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy opposes the bill, arguing that Congress should pass a funding bill that expires in January, allowing the new Congress to negotiate its own package. 

North Carolina Republican Rep. Dan Bishop and his staff combed through the legislation all day Tuesday and identified some of the earmarks and controversial spending provisions in the full text.

Among Bishop’s findings was language that prohibits U.S. Customs and Border Protection from using its $1.5 billion in funding to “acquire, maintain or extend border security technology and capabilities, except for technology and capabilities to improve Border Patrol processing.”

“It expressly prohibits CBP funding from being used to improve border security,” Bishop tweeted.

“… but at the same time, allocates $410 million towards border security for Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, Tunisia, and Oman,” he continued in a follow-up tweet. “America Last in action.”

Reacting to Bishop’s findings, Florida Republican Sen. Rick Scott posted on Twitter: “How can any Republican justify voting for this?” 

Brandon Judd, president of the National Border Patrol Council, was asked for his reaction to the border security language in the omnibus bill.

“I’m absolutely, just, disgusted that even the Republicans, some Republicans, are willing to throw the American people under the bus, that they’re not willing to provide border security,” he said on the Just the News Not Noise TV program. “If you look at the omnibus, it specifically says that they can’t provide money to actual border security measures. All it does is it’s going to process people through the system quicker and when we process people quicker, that just encourages more people to cross our borders illegally. That’s wrong.”