Last week the United States Congress passed an emergency bill to provide additional aid on the southern border with Mexico.

Iowa’s Third Congressional District Representative Steve King voted in favor of the $4.6 billion Senate bill. He says the bill provides funding to treat immigrants more humanely, adds additional judges along the border to speed up the processing of immigrants and gives more money to the Department of Homeland Security. However, he points out the bill doesn’t do enough for securing the border. 

“Everybody can’t live in America. So it’s our obligation to determine how many come into America, everyone should be legal that comes into America, and we should be determining who can do the most to contribute to this country.”

The House first passed a bill that was rejected by the Senate. King says the House’s bill didn’t include funding for border security, norfunding to aid illegal immigrants crossing the border. He tells Raccoon Valley Radio he introduced an amendment to the bill that received all but three Republican votes.

“So I brought an amendment to strike that language, and it would’ve opened it up so that some of the resources could’ve been used to build a wall, or a fence. Of course it didn’t prevail, it’s (Democrat) Nancy Pelosi’s House and Representatives right now.”

The Senate bill was approved by both the House and Senate before lawmakers went on their 4th of July holiday break.