Conservatives ‘Shocked’ by Change to Immigration Law Tucked Inside Spending Bill

Conservative House members are reacting strongly against a change to immigration law they found tucked inside the omnibus.

House conservatives are up in arms over a provision in the omnibus spending bill that could allow more than a quarter-million temporary guest workers into the U.S.

As a significant change to immigration law, the measure stunned conservative lawmakers, Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, told The Daily Signal.

“It came out of nowhere, completely out of nowhere,” Jordan, chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, said, “[and] everyone was shocked there was a change and no one had talked about it.”

The provision is the most recent aspect of the $1.1-trillion package to rile conservatives. Congress hopes to pass the omnibus by Friday, before heading home for the holidays.

Tucked into the 2,009-page spending bill, the measure would increase the current federal caps on H-2B visas for low-skilled foreign workers seeking blue-collar jobs in the U.S.

The provision would quadruple the number of foreign workers allowed annually from 66,000 to 264,000.

House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., in courting conservatives just weeks ago in the speaker race, promised he wouldn’t push immigration changes while a Democrat is in the White House.

But Jordan described the move as “a significant change, something you shouldn’t throw in at the last minute.” He added:

I don’t know how much Paul knew about it, but I think it’s the wrong direction, the wrong policy decision, particularly when you don’t have extensive debate or discussion.

A Ryan aide downplayed the speaker’s role in the measure and qualified his past promise.

“Ryan didn’t say the House would not touch programs related to visas, rather that it would not pass comprehensive immigration reform,” the aide told The Daily Signal. “This is not that, and not even close.”

The House Judiciary Committee, not Ryan, crafted the change in line with his promise “to allow the committees [to] take the lead in legislating,” the aide said. It was approved by the House Appropriations Committee on July 21 by a vote of 32-17 as part of a homeland security spending bill (H.R. 3128; page 72).

Asked about it Wednesday, Ryan told reporters:

This passed the House Appropriations Committee in July, with the House Judiciary Committee working with that committee. So if you have any questions, I’d refer you to those guys. The whole point of this, I want committees driving the process. I want committees writing the legislation, and that’s what happened here.

Rep. Dave Brat, R-Va., said that claim is “a little slippery.”

Although the guest worker provision is “not comprehensive,” Brat told The Daily Signal, the measure didn’t follow regular order; it came “before committee, maybe, but never before the House for a vote.”

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Source: Conservatives ‘Shocked’ by Change to Immigration Law Tucked Inside Spending Bill