New York Times
By Theodore Schleifer
July 23, 2014
House
Republicans unveiled a $1.5 billion plan on Wednesday to address the
crisis of thousands of young migrants along the southern border,
proposing significantly less
than President Obama and Senate Democrats say is necessary and setting
up a standoff over pushing through the emergency funds before Congress
begins its five-week break at the end of the month.
Democrats
and Republicans have only days to resolve the roughly $1 billion gap
that separates their plans before Congress breaks for its August recess.
Senate Democrats
on Wednesday offered their own bill that would allocate $2.7 billion.
Both measures were far less than the $3.7 billion that Mr. Obama had
requested.
But
the dispute is not merely about money. Also at issue are differences
over a 2008 law intended to prevent human trafficking, which has made it
difficult for the administration
to quickly deport children from Central American countries.
At
the core of the Republican plan is an amendment to the 2008 law that
would expedite deportations of unaccompanied minors from Central
American countries. The plan also
calls for the president to deploy the National Guard to the southern
border, add immigration judges to relieve the glut of cases, and
increase border security in Central American countries and Mexico.
Many
Democrats say they are opposed to any legislation that changes the 2008
law, fearing it would strip important protections for migrant children
fleeing their home
countries. Though the administration has shown some openness to
amending the law, the president did not include such changes in his
request to Congress, and Democrats are hardening against any such
compromise.
In
a letter to Mr. Obama on Wednesday, Speaker John A. Boehner, Republican
of Ohio, pointed out the administration’s seemingly contradictory
position and called on the
White House to push Democrats to support changes to the law.
“Frankly,
it is difficult to see how we can make progress on this issue without
strong, public support from the White House for much-needed reforms,
including changes
to the 2008 law,” Mr. Boehner wrote. “I hope you will take the earliest
possible opportunity to voice your continued support for common-sense
efforts to stem the flow of children to our border.”
The
Republican bill, sponsored by Representative Kay Granger of Texas,
would most likely need votes from at least some House Democrats, given
that some House Republicans
said Wednesday that the price tag for the legislation, which is likely
to be offset by spending cuts, was still too high.
“To
spend billions of dollars on foreign children — money that we don’t
have, that we have to borrow to get, that we can’t afford to pay back —
is financial insanity when
you can solve the problem with as little as $20 to $30 million,” said
Representative Mo Brooks of Alabama, who called on the president to send
the migrant children back on commercial flights.
Representative
Tom Cole, Republican of Oklahoma, expressed hope that the plan would
earn at least a few Democratic votes, but he said he also hoped that
enough Republicans
would support it.
“You
guys who want to vote no, you go home and explain why you wouldn’t
support legislation that would actually treat all children the same,”
Mr. Cole said. “I think it’s
going to be hard to say, ‘I’m a conservative, but I’m going to vote no
to the type of legislation that was outlined today.’ ”
But
with less than two weeks until the August break, neither side seemed to
be softening much. Some House Republicans worried about the politics of
supporting the president’s
plan.
“If
Republicans move forward on this, we’re now jumping in right in the
middle of President Obama’s nightmare and making it ours,” said
Representative John Fleming, Republican
of Louisiana. “I’m afraid it’s going to become our problem and we’re
going to end up taking ownership for something we have nothing to do
with.”
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