House GOP approves $694 million border bill

House GOP approves $694 million border bill

President Barack Obama says House Republicans are trying to pass the most extreme and unworkable version of an immigration bill even though they know the bill isn't going anywhere. (August 1) AP

Susan Davis, USA TODAY 8:47 p.m. EDT August 1, 2014

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(Photo: J. Scott Applewhite, AP)

WASHINGTON —The U.S. House approved along party lines a $694 million emergency spending bill authored by Republicans to address the ongoing immigration crisis along the southwest U.S. border.

The legislative package passed 223-189 and includes funds to boost border security, provide for more immigration judges and National Guard troops, and provide aid to house and care for the thousands of undocumented minors held at the border.

However, it faces opposition from Senate Democrats and the White House so Friday's vote was largely a political exercise to give lawmakers a vote on a controversial issue before heading home for a month-long break in an election year.

The bill's passage was a hard fought victory for GOP leaders, who faced a conservative revolt on Thursday that forced them to pull legislation from the floor and renegotiate certain terms in order to ensure the votes for passage.

It was also the first test of the new leadership line-up that includes Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., and Majority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., who assumed their new posts late Thursday following the resignation of Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va.

The revised bill includes an additional $35 million for the National Guard and new language to clarify a provision intended to make it easier to return the undocumented minors that have surged along the U.S. southwest border since last October.

GOP leaders agreed to toughen language in a companion bill that would restrict President Obama from renewing or expanding a 2012 program the administration implemented to defer the deportation of children brought to the USA illegally.

House Democrats strongly opposed the legislation, but it is the only proposal to pass a chamber of Congress since President Obama initially requested $3.7 billion to address the border crisis weeks ago.

Senate Democrats tried and failed Thursday to approve their competing $2.7 billion bill that included no new immigration provisions, but it could not overcome a procedural hurdle. Congress will not reconvene until Sept. 8.

"We're trying to offer a solution. It may not be the final solution," said Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., noting that work will continue next month.

"Sooner or later, (the Senate) will get it done, and we'll continue to work on this."

Political theater played out Friday on the House floor. House Democrats sent dozens of their lawmakers to the floor to attempt to offer the Senate-passed comprehensive immigration overhaul that includes a pathway to citizenship for the 11.5 million undocumented immigrants in the USA. Their efforts were blocked by Republicans.

Democrats said GOP efforts to increase deportations and return the children home were inhumane and intolerant and their vote would come back to haunt them in future elections. "When did we lose our way? Let me be crystal clear. The changes being added to the (spending bill) will make the lives of the children worse. How we respond to children in need of safe haven speaks to the character of this nation, who we are," said Rep. Nydia Velazquez, D-N.Y.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2014/08/01/border-funding-house-bill/13457447/

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US Immigration bill passed by House has 'no chance' of becoming law

Erica Werner, The Associated Press
Published Friday, August 1, 2014 9:59PM EDT

WASHINGTON -- The House of Representatives on Friday approved a $694 million bill to address the crisis of unaccompanied migrant youths arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border, but it stands no chance of becoming law.

The Republican legislation passed 223-189, after the Senate left for a five-week summer break.

The bill would increase spending for the National Guard at the border and add immigration judges and detention facilities. It also would make policy changes so that the thousands of migrant children, most of them from Central America, could be sent home more quickly.

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President Barack Obama condemned the Republican action and said he'd act unilaterally, as best he could.

The bill's companion measure would shut off a program created by Obama that grants work permits to immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally as children. It also seemed designed to prevent the more than 700,000 people who've already gotten work permits under the program from renewing them, ultimately making them subject to deportation.
A vote on the second measure was expected later Friday night.

Three months before midterm elections, House Republicans were determined to show that they could take action to address the crisis involving tens of thousands of unaccompanied minors fleeing violence and poverty in Central America to cross illegally into Texas.

More than 57,000 unaccompanied youths have arrived since October, mostly from El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala, plus tens of thousands more migrants travelling as families.

Conservative Republican lawmakers objected to sending any more money to Obama without a strong stance against his two-year-old deportation relief program, which Republicans blame for causing the current border crisis by creating the perception that once here, young migrants would be allowed to stay -- a point the administration disputes.

The Republican plans met with protest from immigration advocates and Democrats, who warned Republicans that they'd be alienating Latino voters for years to come. Latino voters backed Obama in his 2012 re-election.

"If you tell people that you think they're criminals, that you think they're simply bringing diseases, that they're bringing drugs, then you treat them as invaders, they kind of think you don't like them," said Rep. Luis Gutierrez, a Democrat. "They're going to believe you don't like them, and they're not going to vote for you."

The new Republican border bill would pay for strapped border agencies only for the final two months of this budget year, falling far short of the $3.7 billion Obama initially requested to deal with the crisis into next year.

Read more: http://www.ctvnews.ca/world/us-immigration-bill-passed-by-house-has-no-chance-of-becoming-law-