BORDER/HOUSE OF REPS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/WALL: “House Republicans passed legislation on Thursday [7-27-17] funding President Donald Trump’s promised wall along the southwest border, having set the terms of the debate to let members avoid having to vote directly on the proposal.
The measure passed 235-192. Five Democrats voted for the bill, with the support of 230 Republicans.
Mr. Trump made the border wall a central campaign promise, while vowing Mexico would pay for its construction. Many Republicans support the idea, but most Democrats are opposed and some in the GOP also have misgivings.
Hoping to deliver Mr. Trump a victory, Republican leaders plucked the $1.6 billion in funds to begin the wall’s construction from the Homeland Security spending bill and added it to a popular bill funding the military, veterans and other matters.
Several GOP aides said leaders were concerned that a straightforward vote on the wall itself would fail. To avoid that, they employed a maneuver by which the wall funding was automatically added to the larger defense bill after a vote setting rules for debate on the measure. That vote passed 230-196 on Thursday, mostly along party lines.
In addition, the House Rules Committee barred consideration of any amendments related to border security or the wall.”
-Laura Meckler and Siobhan Hughes, “Republicans Set Terms of Debate of Bill Funding Trump’s Border Wall,” The Wall Street Journal online, July 27, 2017 08:02pm