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Congressman Pappas votes to end the shutdown, increase border security, and keep New Hampshire families safe

January 23, 2019
Washington, D.C. - Today Congressman Chris Pappas voted to end the shutdown and keep our communities safe through increased border security measures. The legislation passed today includes six bipartisan appropriation measures that received broad bipartisan agreement from House and Senate negotiators at the end of the 115th Congress. Additionally, this legislation contains more than $1.6 billion to keep communities safe – including funding for more immigration judges at the border, investments in ports of entry infrastructure, and assistance to Central America. This marks Chris's tenth vote to reopen the government since taking office twenty days ago. While Senate Republican leaders have refused to take up any of the bipartisan House appropriations bills, 800,000 federal employees have gone without pay and millions of Americans have not been able to access crucial government services.

Congressman Chris Pappas issued the following statement:

"Today I cast my tenth vote to re-open our government to allow more than 800,000 federal employees to get back to work and restore key government services for millions of Americans. There is no reason New Hampshire families should have to suffer an unexpected financial crisis because of Washington's inability to perform its most basic functions. The appropriations measures we passed today include $1.6 billion to increase our investment in border security to keep our communities safe. There is a clear need to fund additional border security. I am willing to work with anyone, anytime, to deliver additional resources for evidence-based, effective strategies. It is long past time for Senate Republican leaders to come to the table and work with us to re-open our government, invest in 21st century border security, and allow Congress to get to work on the issues we were sent here to solve."

The package includes $1.6 billion in key border security-related measures, as follows:
  • $524.2 million for improvements in ports of entry: The Financial Services and General Government bill includes $524.2 million for investments in ports of entry, in order to meet the latest security requirements, improve border security, and increase capacity for vehicular traffic.
  • $563.4 million for additional immigration judges: The Commerce-Justice-Science bill in the package includes $563.4 million to accelerate the recruitment and hiring of additional immigration judges, in order to address the backlog in processing immigration cases.
  • $527 million for assistance to Central America: The State-Foreign Operations-Related Programs bill includes $527 million for assistance to Central America, a critical investment in addressing conditions in Central American countries that many migrants are fleeing from.
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