WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Roger Wicker, R-Miss., today voted against a partisan bill offered by Senate Democrats, without input from Senate Republicans, to allow the Obama Administration to spend $2.7 billion on the growing border crisis. The legislation, S. 2648, does not include a single policy reform.

“In its current form, this bill will do nothing to stem the tide of the tens of thousands of unaccompanied minors crossing our southern border,” Wicker said. “We cannot afford to simply throw $2.7 billion at a problem demanding real reform. Giving the President a blank check with no strings attached does not resolve this issue.”

Wicker filed an amendment to S. 2648 that would bar the use of federal funds to administer the White House’s “Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals” (DACA) program.

“Current Administration policies, like the DACA program, incentivize families in Central America to send their children on a perilous journey to the United States,” Wicker said. “My amendment would ensure that this problem is addressed by denying the White House the funds to carry out this policy.”

“Senate Republicans, and the millions of Americans we represent, deserve debate and an up-or-down vote on our proposals,” Wicker concluded. “I urge the Majority Leader to work with us to improve this legislation.”

Wicker also supports the “Helping Unaccompanied Minors and Alleviating National Emergency (HUMANE) Act,” S. 2611, sponsored by Senator John Cornyn, R-Texas. Wicker is a cosponsor of the Cornyn bill.

More than 50,000 unaccompanied children have been detained at the border since October 2013. One report shows that more than 90,000 unaccompanied children are expected to enter the United States this year and more than 145,000 are expected to enter next year. The Department of Health and Human Services has stated that 20 percent of the children intercepted this year are 11 years old or younger.