McConnell threatens to block basic care for children in detention camps

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s intransigence is going to hurt innocent children.

The Kentucky Republican is refusing to work with Democrats to make any changes to a border aid package the Senate passed on Wednesday — including setting hygiene standards for immigrant children who have been held in squalid and unsafe conditions in U.S. custody at the border.

The House had already passed their own version of a border aid package on Tuesday, which included provisions to protect immigrant children at the border.

“We already have our compromise. The Shelby-Leahy Senate bill is the only game in town,” McConnell said in a speech on the Senate floor on Thursday. “Time to quit playing games. Time to make a law.”

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is not backing down, however.

In a “Dear Colleague” letter, she outlined the changes House Democrats want to see added to the Senate bill, including ensuring “children’s comfort” at migrant processing centers, accountability and transparency rules that allow members of Congress to visit detention facilities without any advance notice, and reporting requirements should a child die in custody.

Other changes Democrats are seeking include setting strict hygiene standards and limits to the number of days kids can be held in processing facilities.

But those humane policies are too much for McConnell to bear.

In his speech on the Senate floor, McConnell called those protections for kids “way to the left of the mainstream,” claiming that those proposals “throw a far-left partisan wrench into the whole thing.”

McConnell vowed to thwart any efforts by the House to send back to the Senate an amended bill with those additions.

“Let me be perfectly clear, I’m glad the Speaker and the administration are discussing some of these outstanding issues. But if House Democrats send the Senate back some partisan effort to disrupt our bipartisan progress, we will simply move to table it,” McConnell said.

As usual, McConnell is standing by Trump’s side, as Trump is against the protections for migrant children that the House passed.

For a party that preaches “pro-life” values, they certainly don’t care about the health and safety of children.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.