Majority of 213-strong House caucus expected to reject funding bill but party has no plans to enforce whip
Congressional Democrats are expected to overwhelmingly reject a bill to fund ICE, the agency spearheading Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown, amid mounting outrage over its heavy-handed and violent tactics in Minnesota and elsewhere.
Party leaders told a closed-door meeting on Capitol Hill on Wednesday that they would vote against the homeland security funding bill, citing insufficient provisions to rein in Immigration Customs and Enforcement, more widely known by its acronym.
Signals for a no vote came from Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic minority leader in the House of Representatives, along with Pete Aguilar, the chairman of the party’s caucus, and Katherine Clark, the chief whip.
Their sentiments are expected to influence the vast majority of the Democrats’ 213-strong House caucus to vote no – although sufficient Democrats are believed to be ready to vote in favor to enable the legislation to pass. The party has no plans to whip its members into line to enforce the leadership view.
