House to take up border security and human trafficking bills next week

The House will consider bills next week to enhance border security, combat human trafficking and expedite exports of liquefied natural gas.

The legislation to beef up security at the southern border is slated for a vote Wednesday and will be next week’s main attraction in the House.

{mosads}The measure requires the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to be able to prevent all illegal crossings into the U.S., also known as “operational control,” within five years. Political appointees to the department would be barred from receiving bonuses if operational control isn’t achieved within the timeframe.

It would further allow border patrol agents to enter federal lands to apprehend illegal immigrants trying to cross the southern border.

“The bill also ensures that we are using the latest technologies to assist with border enforcement and takes the common-sense step of allowing greater access to the border region,” McCarthy said on the floor.

House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said in a statement that he would whip Democrats against he bill. 

“Republicans took what was a bipartisan bill in the 113th Congress and have now transformed it into a partisan one, which militarizes our southwestern border and denies Homeland Security officials the flexibility required to address existing and new challenges along that border, while doing nothing to improve security in other border areas,” Hoyer said.

Measures to restrict human trafficking are expected to hit the House floor on Monday and be considered under suspension of the rules. That means the bills will need two-thirds majorities to pass.

The House passed legislation last year on the issue in light of extremist group Boko Haram kidnapping Nigerian teenage girls.

A vote on a bill to expedite liquefied natural gas exports will likely occur on Tuesday. The House passed similar legislation in June.

The House is only in session from Monday to Wednesday next week to accommodate the Democratic retreat in Philadelphia on Thursday and Friday.