Wall Street Journal
By Laura Meckler and Kristina Peterson
July 30, 2014
When
the White House wants Congress to pass legislation, it normally talks
about all the bad things that will happen if Congress doesn’t act. But
with efforts failing
to pass an emergency spending bill to address the surge in child
migration, the administration was unable to point to specific
consequences.
Asked
this week what the practical effect of the failure would be, White
House Press Secretary Josh Earnest referred reporters to individual
agencies. “We are hopeful
that Congress will take the kind of action that is required,” he said.
So what did those agencies have to say?
The
Department of Health and Human Services is responsible for caring for
children in shelters while they work to place them with sponsors in the
U.S., where they will
await immigration hearings. An HHS spokesman said that without the
funding—and without “extraordinary measures”—HHS would be “unable to set
up more stable, cost-effective arrangements for these children.” But it
did not say that the agency would be unable
to care for children.
A
spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security said that the
Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency will run out of money in
mid-August and the Customs and Border
Protection service will run out in mid-September, forcing DHS to divert
money from elsewhere in the department. But it, too, did not cite any
particular consequences.
This
may be partly because the number of children apprehended at the border
has fallen dramatically from its peak in June. For instance, senior
administration officials
said last week that HHS no longer has an urgent need to open new
shelters, which was one of the major funding requests.
On
Wednesday, the outlook for a resolution in Congress remained poor. In
the Senate, a $2.7 billion Democratic bill cleared an early procedural
hurdle on a 63-33 vote,
but it is likely to be blocked by Republicans later this week.
The
House is expected to pass its own border bill on Thursday, but Congress
is unlikely to reach any agreement before lawmakers depart this week
for their five-week August
recess. Senate Democrats have not indicated they are considering any
other options this week for dealing with the border crisis.
For more information, go to: www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com
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