A San Antonio congressman said the current spending measure before the U.S. Senate doesn’t do enough in terms of disaster relief, immigration reform or shoring up the federal government’s Children’s Health Insurance Program.
Democratic Congressman Joaquin Castro voted against the spending measure that would extend funding through Feb. 16 to keep the federal government from shutting down.
“It funds a lot of important agencies and a lot of important work of the federal government, but it’s also very significant what is missing from it,” Castro said.
Castro said he voted against the spending measure because it did not include an extension of the federal government’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.
“Every day that goes by, 122 ‘dreamers’ become subject to deportation. So basically, every day that goes by, we’re risking people’s future,” he said.
Castro said passing spending measures that only extend the life of the federal government for months at a time is a horrible way to do business.
The San Antonio congressman also criticized the spending measure because it did not include more money for the federal government’s Children’s Health Insurance Program, and it didn’t include disaster relief for Texas cities along the Texas Gulf Coast still struggling to rebuild following Hurricane Harvey.
Republicans members of the U.S. Senate must secure at least 60 votes in favor of the spending measure before midnight deadline Friday to avoid a federal government shutdown.
Ryan Poppe can be reached at rpoppe@tpr.org or on Twitter @RyanPoppe
