Congress approves budget deal

CONGRESS APPROVES BUDGET DEAL: The House approved this morning a two-year budget deal that would increase federal spending by $300 billion and provide $90 billion in disaster aid — but not address immigration or the fate of DREAMers brought to the United States as children. The vote wasn't without some drama: the federal government entered the second shutdown of the Trump presidency for several hours early this morning after Congress failed to pass a spending bill by a midnight deadline. The Senate approved the measure just before 2 a.m. with a 73-26 vote.

The odds of passage looked good in the Senate Thursday, but leadership needed consent from all 100 senators to procure a quick vote on the measure — and one budget-conscious lawmaker wouldn't fall in line. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) blocked the measure temporarily from moving forward by withholding his vote. "I'm not advocating for shutting down the government," Paul said on Fox News. "I'm also not advocating for keeping the damn thing open and borrowing a million dollars a minute. This is reckless spending that is out of control." Some of Paul's colleagues grumbled at the delay. "You can make a point all you want. But points are forgotten, said Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.). "There's not a whole lot of history books about the great points of the American Senate."

The Senate was able to vote on the budget deal early this morning (Paul's resistance only blocked an immediate vote on Thursday). But the measure also needed to clear the House, where many Democrats insisted the agreement include DREAMer protections and a faction of Republican fiscal hawks balked at the bill's price tag. The legislation passed the House around 5:30 a.m. this morning by a 240-186 vote (with 73 Democrats onboard), capping an all-night saga that one Senate GOP aide called "the stupidest thing to happen to Congress in three weeks." The bill now heads to President Donald Trump, who is expected to sign it.

Where do we go from here? Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell moved to set up debate on immigration legislation that will begin on Monday evening. The majority leader filed cloture Friday morning on a non-related bill, H.R. 2579 (115), which will serve as a blank slate for immigration amendments in the Senate.

House Speaker Paul Ryan also sought to assure Democrats Thursday that he would bring legislation to the floor that would address the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Program. "I know that there is a real commitment to solving the the DACA challenge in both political parties. That's a commitment that I share," Ryan told reporters. "If anyone doubts my intention to solve this problems and bring up a DACA and immigration reform bill, do not. We will bring a solution to the floor, one the president will sign." House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi— who used an epic 8-hour floor speech Wednesday make the case for Dreamers — sent a letter to Ryan Thursday that urged him to bring to the floor a bipartisan bill from Reps. Will Hurd (R-Texas) and Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.), H.R. 4796 (115).

But some Democrats and progressives fear the party surrendered its best leverage to pass legislation that protects Dreamers without major changes to the immigration system. Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) stood among those who opposed the bipartisan spending agreement because of it failed to address immigration. "This bill includes many priorities I support and have fought for, but I could not vote for a budget that leaves Dreamers out in the cold," he said in a written statement after the vote. Read more on the shutdown from John Bresnahan, Jennifer Scholtes and Heather Caygle here. Read Burgess Everett on Rand Paul's latest stand here. Read about the "dumbest shutdown ever" from POLITICO's Rachael Bade and Seung Min Kim here.

GOOD MORNING! It's Friday, Feb. 9, and this is Morning Shift, POLITICO's daily tipsheet on employment and immigration policy. Send tips, exclusives and suggestions to thesson@politico.com, ikullgren@politico.com, ahanna@politico.com and tnoah@politico.com. Follow us on Twitter at @tedhesson, @AndrewBHanna, @IanKullgren and @TimothyNoah1.

TODAY:

Arguments in border wall case: A federal judge will hear oral arguments in a case brought by environmentalists and the state of California over President Trump's border wall. U.S. District Court Judge Gonzalo Curiel (yup, he's the guy Trump called "very biased and unfair" in 2016 because of his Mexican heritage) will hear arguments from the Center for Biological Diversity, the Sierra Club, and other groups, the Arizona Republic reports.

"The dispute is over a set of prototype wall segments the government built at the border by San Diego last year without reviewing the effects on migratory birds, wilderness protections or endangered species living in that zone," writes Brandon Loomis. "A ruling in the government's favor could clear the way for the administration to build elsewhere without considering protections for rare species, such as the jaguars and ocelots whose crossings into the United States a wall could block." More here.

TRUMP WANTS $3 BILLION FOR WALL IN FY19: "[Trump's] budget proposal to be unveiled on Monday will include a request for $3 billion as a down payment on building a wall along the U.S. border with Mexico," Steve Holland reports in Reuters, citing a senior administration official. "The official, who briefed a small group of reporters on condition of anonymity, said the money would go toward purchasing private land in the Rio Grande Valley in south Texas and advance purchases of steel."

"The $3 billion will be on top of this year's $14 billion request for the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency," writes Holland. The administration requested $1.6 billion for a border wall in fiscal year 2018, but Congress hasn't approved that proposal. Reuters reports that the administration aims to build 60 miles of steel bollard "wall" with the fiscal year 2018 funding (it initially proposed 74 miles of border wall, levee wall and "border wall system"). The fiscal year 2019 funding would building another 64 miles of border barriers, Reuters reports. More here.

KHANNA ON DACA, H-1B: Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) represents a Silicon Valley district where immigration is a major concern. He sat down with Morning Shift this week to share thoughts on DACA negotiations and possible reforms to the H-1B program.

This trasnscript has been edited for length and clarity.

Is there a path forward on DACA in the House?

This is about America keeping its word. You had all these kids that were promised a legal status if they gave their personal information, and they paid a fee, and they filled out these forms. Now, on those forms there was not an asterisk saying, "If Congress changes, or our country's president changes, than this commitment is no longer good." … So why is [House Speaker Paul Ryan] not bringing a vote? The answer, probably, is that he's facing an extraordinary amount of pressure from his own caucus. One way of diffusing that is to make this more about America keeping its word and it's promise, and not even getting into all of the issues on immigration.

Would you back anything beyond the Dream Act, H.R. 3440 (115)?

I don't think there is much flexibility on that, because [there] is a sense [that] this is a manufactured problem. … It would be an awful precedent for this country if the view was that any future president can revoke the commitments made by a past president.

How about something that combined a Dreamer fix with border security?

I personally would be very, very reluctant to sign onto something like that. But you know, I would listen to [Reps. Luis Gutiérrez, Nancy Pelosi and John Lewis], people whose moral compass I respect. … But my hope would be that it doesn't come down to such a terrible choice.

Why haven't H-1B visas been part of the immigration debate?

We're barely able to handle one thing. … But I think that there's a common-sense reform on H-1B. Have a commitment to pay the prevailing wage, make sure that there aren't companies that are abusing it, which there are. I represent Silicon Valley, I know there are companies that are paying $60,000 instead of $120,000, and then they go flood the H-1B application process.

Do you support the Trump administration's steps to reform H-1B regulations?

No, because they've done some things that are just cruel, like taking away H-1B spouses' ability to work. Well, we know that's going to lead to greater instances of domestic violence. One of the worst things you can do for someone coming to this country, particularly women, is make them totally dependent on the earnings of their spouse. [The Trump administration is expected to propose rescinding the spousal work authorization this month.]

You back a bill that tightens H-1B regulations, H.R. 1303 (115). Was that an unpopular move in your district?

I wouldn't say it was unpopular. I would say it wasn't without some controversy. The people who understood it the most were a lot of the Indian Americans. Because they understand that there's been some abuse by some of these outsourcing companies. The tech companies themselves are fine. The Googles and Facebooks and Apples, and Microsofts, they're paying $120,000, $130,000 to H-1B visa [holders]. They're having really extraordinary experts come in. They're actually being shut out because of these outsourcing companies that are flooding the H-1B systems. … I think they understand that there's a need for reform.

SEXUAL HARASSMENT UPDATE:

Cato co-founder hit with harassment claims: "Three former employees of the famed Cato Institute say they were sexually harassed by Ed Crane, the 73-year-old co-founder and president emeritus of the think tank and one of the most recognizable figures in the libertarian movement," POLITICO's Maggie Severns and Daniel Lippman report. Crane's alleged misconduct included telling a female employee to take off her bra; watching porn in his office on multiple occasions and telling a female employee he'd like to see how her breasts measured up to the images on screen; emailing a female employee about breast implants; and trying to unsnap the bra of a female colleague at an office holiday party on a boat on the Potomac River. Crane denied several of the incidents before ending a brief interview. More here.

#MeToo lawmaker faces allegations: "California Assemblywoman Cristina Garcia — whose high-profile advocacy of the #MeToo movement earned her national media notice — is herself the subject of a state legislative investigation in the wake of a report that she sexually harassed and groped a former legislative staffer," reports POLITICO's Carla Marinucci. Garcia was prominently included in the art accompanying Time's Person of the Year cover for "silence breakers" (really, you can't make this stuff up). Two men, a lobbyist and a former staffer to another member, said they were drunkenly groped by Garcia.

"Daniel Fierro of Cerritos told POLITICO that in 2014, as a 25-year-old staffer to Assemblyman Ian Calderon, he was groped by Garcia, a powerful Democratic lawmaker who chairs the Legislative Women's Caucus and the Natural Resources Committee," Marinucci reports. "He said she cornered him alone after the annual Assembly softball game in Sacramento as he attempted to clean up the dugout. Fierro, who said Garcia appeared inebriated, said she began stroking his back, then squeezed his buttocks and attempted to touch his crotch before he extricated himself and quickly left." More here.

FEDS REDACT 255,000 SALARIES FROM PAYROLL: The federal government now redacts nearly 255,000 salaries from its payroll, Adam Andrzejewski reports for RealClearPolitics. A Freedom of Information Act request filed by Open the Books shows one out of every five federal salaries are hidden, an increase in opacity of more than 7,000 percent. The redaction "harms oversight," Andrzejewski writes. "The American people deserve to know who makes how much, in what position, employed by which agency." More here.

REPORT ROUNDUP:

Short-staffed and stressed-out: "Shortages of employees — a common feature of troubled government programs — are hampering a range of services to the public and stressing the federal workforce," Eric Yoder reports for The Washington Post, citing an Office of Personnel Management report released this week. "The report comes just ahead of a White House budget proposal that is expected to include plans for carrying out a long-term reduction in the federal workforce, as ordered by the Trump administration last April." Read more from the Post here and the report here.

Workforce development needs work: A Government Accountability Office report released Thursday found cooperation among federal agencies to promote workforce development functions well but could be improved. The oversight body evaluated actions taken by officials at DOL, the Education Department and HHS to implement the 2014 Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act. The report makes six recommendations to improve collaboration, including jointly adopting online tools and formally documenting how agencies share resources. Read it here.

BREAKING DOWN AMAZON'S OPTIONS: The online retailer Amazon has 20 cities on its shortlist for a second headquarters. How do they stack up? The Wall Street Journal compared the metro areas in terms of job growth, labor force growth, unemployment. The data exposes the potential drawbacks of some locations (from Amazon's perspective). For instance, Austin has seen strong labor force growth over the last decade (a plus for Amazon), but also has one of the lowest unemployment rates of the cities on the list (which could make it more difficult to recruit workers). Scope the charts here.

CVS BOOSTS WAGES AFTER TAX LAW: CVS Health became the latest company to announce wage increases linked to passage of the Republican-back tax law in January, CNBC's Angelica LaVito reports. "CVS will boost starting pay for hourly employees to $11 per hour from $9 per hour, starting in April," the outlet reports. "Pay ranges and rates will be adjusted for many of its retail pharmacy technicians, front store associates and other hourly retail employees later in the year. Full-time employees will qualify for as much as four weeks of paid parental leave, and worker health-care premiums will hold steady at current rates." More here.

ICE SEEKS INTELLIGENCE DESIGNATION: A small group of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials have been exploring the idea of joining the Intelligence Community, the Daily Beast's Betsy Woodruff reported earlier this week. The effort has been underway since the Obama administration, but could be better received under Trump, Woodruff reports.

"Internal advocates for joining the America's spy agencies—known as the Intelligence Community or the IC—focus on the potential benefits to the agency's work on counterproliferation, money laundering, counterterror, and cybercrime," Woodruff writes. "The official added that joining the IC could also be useful for the agency's immigration enforcement work––in particular, their efforts to find and arrest undocumented immigrants with criminal arrest warrants (known in ICE as fugitive aliens)." More here.

FBI: NO EVIDENCE OF BORDER AGENT ATTACK: "An F.B.I. investigation into the mysterious death of a Border Patrol agent found unconscious off a remote West Texas highway in November has been unable to determine how he was injured, though the bureau said on Wednesday that it had found no evidence suggesting he had been attacked," the New York Times reported this week. "In a statement, the Federal Bureau of Investigation said it could not find anyone who had witnessed the episode in which the agent, Rogelio Martinez, was killed besides his partner, Stephen Garland, who survived but has no recollection of what happened." Trump tweeted about the agent's death in November. "Border Patrol Officer killed at Southern Border, another badly hurt," he wrote. "We will seek out and bring to justice those responsible. We will, and must, build the Wall!"

COFFEE BREAK:

— "Where Donald Trump's border wall would start," from The Wall Street Journal

— "We swore to defend the United States. But we can't get to boot camp without DACA," from POLITICO Magazine

— "'Pillar of the community' deported from US after 39 years to a land he barely knows," from CNN

— "Franchise industry's top attorney takes Labor Dept. post," from Bloomberg BNA

— "‘I refuse to just follow orders': State worker says he's quitting over ICE subpoenas," from the Great Falls Tribune

— "President Trump's claim that ‘thousands and thousands' of MS-13 members are off the streets," from The Washington Post