House planning to pass abortion and immigration restrictions

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The new Republican-led House plans to pass a series of bills in the coming days to impose abortion limits and curtail immigration as part of an opening legislative salvo that sets up a confrontation with the Democratic-led Senate and highlights a political contrast ahead of the 2024 election.

Among the seven bills that were assured speedy votes in the rules package passed this week is one that would empower the Homeland Security secretary to block entry for migrants at “his discretion” as necessary to “achieve operational control” over the border. Another would require the background check system to notify Immigration and Customs Enforcement if a person in the U.S. unlawfully seeks to buy a gun. Two would curtail abortion with new prohibitions on federal funding for the procedure and new regulations about how health care practitioners attend infants born alive after abortions.

The “born alive” bill is expected to get a vote Wednesday, causing anxiety among some GOP members. The party paid a heavy price in the 2022 midterm election for building the Supreme Court that ended the constitutional right to abortion.

Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., said most voters in her swing district, which is based in Charleston, oppose the overturning of Roe v. Wade. She said it’s a bad idea for the House to bring up those bills.

“It’s tone-deaf at this point. It’s never going to pass the Senate. It’s never going to get to the president’s desk to be signed into law,” Mace said Tuesday. “We’re only paying lip service to the pro-life movement. If you want to make a difference and reduce the number of abortions with a Democrat-controlled Senate, the No. 1 issue we should be working on is access to birth control.”

“We have been tone-deaf on this issue since the time that Roe was overturned. We buried our heads in the sand,” she told reporters. “We didn’t have any policy alternatives. We were not compassionate to both sides of the aisle on this argument.”

Rep. Susie Lee, D-Nev., who narrowly won re-election last fall, said she’s “vehemently opposed” to the Republican bills “weaponizing abortion.” But she didn’t close the door on the bills about immigration, saying she’d review and consider them.

Republicans have gained a political advantage on immigration in recent years, using it to stir up a passionate base of conservatives who want limits on migration. Most voters indicated to pollsters last year that they prefer the GOP to handle the issue. Numerous Democrats facing re-election in swing states last year, including Sens. Mark Kelly of Arizona and Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire, broke with Biden on immigration as they faced anxious independent voters.