Republicans play defense on Venezuela after rejecting TPS
The House will vote again Thursday on a bill to grant Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, for Venezuelans, two days after a similar measure failed.
But this time, the bill that would give thousands of Venezuelans fleeing Maduro’s regime the ability to live and work legally in the U.S. is expected to pass and head to the Senate.
Six months ago, South Florida Democrats were forced to explain their Venezuela policy stance after left-leaning members of their own party questioned President Donald Trump’s decision to recognize Juan Guaidó as the country’s legitimate leader and sanctions designed to ratchet pressure on Nicolas Maduro.
Now, it’s Republicans who are leaving Venezuelans in a bind.
Florida Democrats are poised to leave Washington for a six week recess with a tangible policy victory for Venezuelans after members like Reps. Donna Shalala, Debbie Mucarsel-Powell and Debbie Wasserman Schultz worked to educate skeptical party leaders about the importance of granting TPS to Venezuelans.
The measure failed Tuesday, when House Republicans voted down a fast-tracked bill. In response to the defeat, Shalala worked with Democratic leadership to ensure that the TPS bill can still be passed under normal procedure before the House leaves town on Friday. The bill will only need a simple majority instead of two-thirds support, and is expected to pass easily.
“We never gave up. We had a backup plan. That backup plan will be demonstrated in the next couple of days,” Shalala said. “I want the Venezuelan people to know in South Florida and across Venezuela — those who have fled to Colombia, Brazil, Peru — our party will never give up until there is freedom for Venezuela.”
President Donald Trump could have granted TPS without congressional approval.
“We, unlike the president, don’t look at Venezuelans as human political opportunities,” Wasserman Schultz said. “Trump and the Republicans have treated Venezuelans like human political opportunities, looking at a state like Florida which Trump has to win to get reelected. And he thinks he’s going to be able to do a snow job on Venezuelans who can vote in Florida and make them think that he actually cares about actually restoring democracy in their country. Well, so far, when he had an opportunity to actually do something tangibly to help the people he’s refused.”
Eight of Florida’s 14 House Republicans voted against the bill Tuesday, even though it was sponsored by Florida Reps. Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Miami, and Darren Soto, D-Kissimmee. Democrats said the second TPS vote will give Republicans who voted no another chance to show support for Venezuela.
Diaz-Balart praised Democrats’ persistence in forcing a second TPS vote after the first one failed.
“We’re going to get it done, one way or another we’re going to get it done,” Diaz-Balart said.
Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fort Walton Beach, was one of eight Florida Republicans who voted against the TPS bill. He argued that the House TPS bill was more expansive than similar legislation introduced in the U.S. Senate by New Jersey Democrat Bob Menendez and Florida Republican Marco Rubio.
“I am optimistic that we’re going to get to a good TPS bill for Venezuelans,” Gaetz said. “Venezuelans in Florida have been remarkable contributors to our communities. I’m concerned at the open-ended nature of the specific legislation passed by the House.“
The U.S. Senate is in session for an additional week after the House leaves town on Friday, giving the upper chamber a chance to pass a TPS bill before the summer break. The bill would then need Trump’s signature to become a law.
Soto is hopeful that the Trump administration will be forced to act on TPS if Congress passes a bill, noting that the current hyperinflation, lack of food and political violence all meet the typical standards used by the Department of Homeland Security to grant TPS.
“We all know the situation in Venezuela is dire,” Soto said. “This is exactly the type of situation that necessitates the TPS program. Venezuelans are the largest asylum seekers of any nation as of the last couple of weeks. We have an estimated 170,000 Venezuelans in Florida alone, many of whom have family members seeking asylum.”
Extending TPS for Venezuela would open Trump up to claims of hypocrisy from his own base after he’s tried to end existing TPS programs for Haiti, Nicaragua, El Salvador and Honduras. A host of conservative groups that aim to curtail immigration urged GOP lawmakers this week to vote against any TPS bill, and House Republican leaders Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., and Steve Scalise, R-La., did not support the bill.
Gaetz said Venezuelans in Florida see the Democratic Party being represented by figures like Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., who questioned the decision made by dozens of countries to recognize Guaido over Maduro.
“I think that as the Venezuela wing of the Democratic Party, also known as the squad, becomes more vocal, Florida-based Venezuelans will see that socialism is not the answer and they’ll vote overwhelmingly Republican,” Gaetz said.
But Florida Democrats said they’ve spent months convincing skeptical Democrats that their actions on Venezuela, including passing three bills to expand U.S. humanitarian assistance in Venezuela, examine Russia’s growing military presence in the country and prohibit U.S. exports of crime control materials that Nicolás Maduro can use against pro-democracy protesters, are not actions that put the U.S. on a path to military intervention.
Every single Democrat who showed up to vote supported TPS on Tuesday.
“On Tuesday, Republicans had an opportunity to show their support,” Mucarsel-Powell said. “Republicans are all talk and no action. My Republican colleagues are following the Trump playbook of attacking any immigrant that is here in this country.”