WASHINGTON -- House Republicans on Tuesday unveiled their plan to stem the surge of unaccompanied children from Central America at the southern border, proposing to spend $659 million -- well short of the $3.7 billion President Barack Obama seeks -- to ease the humanitarian crisis.
The legislation is in response to Obama's request this month for emergency supplemental funds to address the situation at the border. Senate Democrats have proposed their own $2.7 billion plan.
Republicans hope to hold a vote on the House bill Thursday, before Congress adjourns for its five-week August break.
"Frankly, we need to show that we can act and act thoughtfully, responsibly and quickly, and frankly clean up the mess that the administration has created," said Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla.
If the House passes its bill, aides said, some Senate Democrats are considering attaching a broad bipartisan immigration bill to the package and sending it back to the House. The broader immigration bill passed the Senate in June 2013 and includes a path to citizenship for the 11 million illegal aliens in the country.
Such a move could make it all but impossible for the House Republican leadership to rally its conference to support even modest changes to help at the border.
At its core, the Republican plan would change a 2008 law intended to combat human trafficking. The law guarantees judicial hearings for unaccompanied youths arriving here from Central America, which in practice allows them to stay in this country for years because of backlogs in the immigration court system.
The change would allow the authorities to more quickly deport the Central American children to their home countries.
The House legislation, which would provide funding through fiscal 2014 at the end of September, also calls for increasing the National Guard presence at the southern border, increasing the number of immigration judges in order to expedite court proceedings, and allowing the Border Patrol onto national park and monument land along the border.
House Speaker John Boehner had acknowledged that Republicans could pay a hefty political price if they returned to their districts in August without having at least put forth their own alternative to handle the crisis at the border. The final bill Republicans proposed is lower than their initial plan of about $1.5 billion.
"I think there's sufficient support in the House to move this bill," Boehner said. "I think we should do something before we go home, and we're working to get there."
But Rep. Mo Brooks, R-Ala., was among those wary of the plan.
"As of right now, I'm not going to support it unless I have assurances that if it comes back from the Senate, we will not consider it unless it is actually going to address the border issue in a constructive way, and amnesty and open borders is not a constructive way," he said. "To me, the laws that are on the books are already adequate. What we need is a president who will obey them. It really is that simple."
Boehner may need to pick up at least a few Democratic votes to pass his bill, but both Senate and House Democrats are increasingly opposed to any changes to the 2008 law. The Senate bill does not make any changes to the 2008 law.
As of Tuesday morning, many Republicans were rallying behind their leadership's proposal.
"I think it will pass with almost all of the Republicans, and I think the Democrats don't want to go home and face their constituents not having dealt with this," said Rep. Blake Farenthold, R-Texas.
Other Republicans have called on Boehner to hold a separate vote to peel back Obama's 2012 executive order that allows some foreigners who were brought to the U.S. illegally as children to remain in the country without the threat of deportation. Such a vote is unlikely before the recess -- something Rep. Bill Flores, R-Texas, called "one area of disappointment that I have."
"I keep pressing our leadership to at least have a separate vote on that, so we can let the American people know where we stand on the president's overreach," Flores said. "They've been mum about it."
Flores will, however, support the final bill, he said.
Immigration advocates were quick to criticize the Republican plan. Ali Noorani, the executive director of the National Immigration Forum, warned that "half a loaf may actually be worse than no loaf at all."
"What this crisis needs is policy that aligns with our better nature and responds to children and families compassionately," he said. "This bill would reduce protections for vulnerable people fleeing desperate circumstances. Rather than meet them with open hearts and a clear, fair process, this bill meets them with National Guard troops."
A Section on 07/30/2014