{"id":22674,"date":"2020-03-24T12:04:37","date_gmt":"2020-03-24T16:04:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.immigrationreform.com\/?p=22674"},"modified":"2020-03-24T12:04:40","modified_gmt":"2020-03-24T16:04:40","slug":"sanctuary-policy-house-democrats-immigrationreform-com","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.immigrationreform.com\/2020\/03\/24\/sanctuary-policy-house-democrats-immigrationreform-com\/","title":{"rendered":"House Democrats Back Bailouts for Sanctuary Jurisdictions"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
House Democrats unveiled their $2.5 trillion stimulus bill late on March 23, setting their terms for the stimulus package intended to rescue the economy from the fallout of Covid-19<\/a>. The text eclipses 1,400 pages and the section-by-section summary<\/a> alone is over 60 pages. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Democrats are not in session, and they likely\nwill not even vote on this mammoth bill. This is instead a messaging tool for\nthem as they counter the Senate\u2019s proposals. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi\n(D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) continue to call\nfor \u201cfour corners\u201d negotiating – where the House speaker and Minority Leader\nKevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) negotiate with the Senate Majority Leader Mitch\nMcConnell (R-Ky.) and Schumer. McConnell has eschewed this approach in favor of\nhis typical strategy, where he builds consensus among the GOP majority and then\npresents a united front to Democrats as they work on the GOP-written bill. <\/p>\n\n\n\n When that approach failed, Speaker Pelosi seized\nthe momentum to push for a significantly larger stimulus laden with a litany of\nprogressive wish-list items, including the institution of a $15 minimum wage, a\n$500 million increase in funding to the National Endowment for the Arts, a\ntemporary halting of foreclosures and evictions, and a climate change study on\naviation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n This bill also includes troubling language shielding sanctuary cities<\/a> from punishment by the Justice Department (DOJ). In February 2020<\/a>, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the Justice Department can legally ban cities, states, and localities from receiving federal grants if they had sanctuary laws in place. The grants in question are the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant<\/a> (JAG) program. Former attorney general Jeff Sessions tried to withhold $53 million in JAG funding<\/a> from sanctuary jurisdictions in 2018, setting up a protracted legal battle that only ended in February 2020. <\/p>\n\n\n\n