The House Homeland Security Committee approved a major border security bill that includes $10 billion for a wall with Mexico.
The Border Security for America Act, proposed by committee Chairman Michael McCaul of Texas, was approved in a party-line 18-12 vote on Wednesday.
The bill includes the $10 billion in border wall funding, $5 billion to improve ports of entry and adds 5,000 agents to both the Border Patrol and Customs and Border Protection.
Under the legislation, the federal government would also be allowed to reimburse states up to $35 million for using their National Guard assets to boost border security.
President Donald Trump says he is willing to risk a government shutdown if it gets him the funding he needs to create a wall on the border with Mexico.
The bill was expected to enter the House floor among debates over whether border security provisions should be tied to potential bills that are supposed to protect recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which Trump began the process of rescinding last month.
Democrats criticized the bill as a political stunt to appease President Trump, who proposed the border wall as a central point of his campaign.
"There was a time in the not too far distant past when this committee cared for facts, data and results," said ranking member Bennie Thompson, D - Miss.
Rep. Will Hurd, R - Texas, made two proposals to protect the environment; Democrats said they were good in spirit but opposed them because they require no oversight of the Secretary of Homeland Security.
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