Migrant Funding Follow Up

Julie,

I just wanted to give everyone an update on yesterday’s vote in the House on the $425 million shelter bailout for illegals.

After engaging in some debate with the Republican caucus, with a particularly spirited speech from Billerica State Representative Marc Lombardo, House leadership rammed through the funding package on a near party line vote. You can view the roll call below to see how your representatives voted.

Some key takeaways from the debate:

Democratic lawmakers seem terrified of any proposals that would allow the state to once again cooperate with federal law enforcement, particularly Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). They shut down multiple amendments that would allow for this cooperation on procedural points, thus preventing roll call votes from happening that would put them on the record. Given the ludicrous positions many of them have taken in the past, this should not come as a shock.
Republican lawmakers stood united against the continuation of the unrestricted funding stream. They offered commonsense amendments that attempted to right the ship of the out of control emergency shelter system, and did get their colleagues on the record for some of these votes. It’s encouraging that they stood united against this proposal and we’re hopeful this is indicative of a change in priority from appeasing House leadership, to becoming leaders in a stand for the taxpayers.
YOUR MESSAGES ARE WORKING! Last year at this time, Beacon Hill leadership refused to even contemplate reforms to the broken shelter system, and simply wrote blank check after blank check to fund the flood. Since then, they have conceded on the need for reform and we’ve completely reframed the debate, now pushing for letting ICE cooperate with state authorities. This would have been unthinkable just a year ago.

Beacon Hill is feeling the pressure; we just need to keep it up.

The funding bill now goes to the Senate, where it is expected to be debated next week. If you haven’t yet taken our Call to Action, please consider doing so here: https://www.votervoice.net/MASSFISCAL/campaigns/121074/respond

We’ll keep you updated as this disaster of a bill continues to make its way through the State House.

[Laurie Belsito's signature]
Laurie Belsito
Policy Director
Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance