House Likely to Vote Next Week on GOP Migrants Bill

Wall Street Journal: 

By Kristina Peterson and Michael R. Crittenden

July 25, 2014

House Likely to Vote Next Week on GOP Migrants Bill 

WASHINGTON—The House of Representatives is likely to vote next week on narrow Republican legislation addressing the surge of migrants into the U.S. from Central America.

The Republicans, who control the House, are calculating the political imperative to take some action on the border crisis trumps conservative distrust of President Barack Obama and Senate Democrats.

House GOP lawmakers, emerging from a closed-door meeting on the issue Friday morning, said they expected they would vote before the August recess on legislation that would change a 2008 anti-trafficking law in order to speed up deportations of the Central American children.

Republicans said the House is may also separately vote at some point on a measure to block the continuation or expansion of the president's 2012 decision to stop deporting some young illegal immigrants, a controversial action that has inflamed many Republicans.

GOP lawmakers have expressed skepticism that Mr. Obama would enforce any legislation passed by Congress and worry a House bill could be fodder for negotiations with the Senate leading to broader changes.

But many said there would be political and practical risks to punting the issue. "The president is a master at trying to deflect his failures on to the Congress," said Rep. Bill Flores (R., Texas). "I don't know that this one would stick, but why put ourselves in that situation?"

On Friday, Mr. Obama was scheduled to meet with the presidents of Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador to push them to help slow migration of minors to the U.S.

The political perils for the GOP in not taking action appeared to outweigh concerns among many conservatives that the Democratic-controlled Senate would take the House-passed bill and try to meld it into sweeping immigration overhaul passed by the Senate last year.

"My greatest concern about passing any legislation is if it goes to the Senate, they will take our legislation that may be constructive [and turn it] into something destructive with amnesty and open borders," said Rep. Mo Brooks (R., Ala.)

House Speaker John Boehner (R., Ohio) addressed this point in Friday's meeting, reiterating that House leaders would only permit narrow legislation directly dealing with the border to emerge from any negotiations with the Senate, said Rep. Matt Salmon (R., Ariz.).

Republicans accustomed to bashing the Senate for not considering bills passed by the GOP-held House said they couldn't then drag their own feet on GOP legislation. "The Republican conference on the one hand can't stand up and complain every day about the Senate doing nothing and then on the other hand use as an excuse not to govern that we're afraid the Senate will do something," said Rep. Charlie Dent (R., Pa.).

Though some Republicans were optimistic a majority of the House GOP would support a border bill, it wasn't yet clear whether a measure would clear the chamber. Democrats have indicated they are unlikely to support the GOP legislation.

Even if the House passes the legislation next week, Congress is unlikely to reach a deal on a border bill before its five-week recess that begins in August. Senate Democrats oppose altering the 2008 law barring expedited deportations for children from countries other than Mexico and Canada.

Currently children from other countries are given the right to see an immigration judge, typically a drawn-out process.

The House and Senate also diverge on how much of Mr. Obama's $3.7 billion funding request for addressing the border crisis that they are willing to grant. Senate Democrats have introduced legislation providing $2.7 billion through the end of the calendar year.

House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers (R., Ky.) had proposed earlier this week spending no more than $1.5 billion through the end of the calendar year, but Republicans on Friday indicated that sum would likely shrink, potentially to less than $1 billion. "It will include the bare minimum to get the job done," Arizona's Mr. Salmon said.

The GOP package would also likely include deploying the National Guard to help secure the border, requiring migrants to be detained until they see an immigration judge within five to seven days and giving Border Patrol agents freer access to federal lands, said Mr. Salmon, one of seven Republicans who shaped the GOP policy proposals dealing with the border.

Some more-conservative Republicans leaving the meeting said they want the House to vote on resolutions condemning Mr. Obama's lack of enforcement of immigration laws as part of any House package to deal with the border crisis. One option would crystallize an argument from House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R., Va.) that Mr. Obama has powers at his disposal to deal with the crisis that he isn't deploying, Mr. Salmon said.

Rep. Steve King (R., Iowa) said there was some consensus among conservatives about giving funding directly to border-state governors rather than through the executive branch. "Who would put that money in Barack Obama's hand? He could fix this problem tomorrow if he decided to do it, so we have to find another way to secure the border that goes around the president because we can't get him to follow the law," Mr. King said.

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