GOP Leaders Attempt to Regroup on Border Bill

Wall Street Journal

By Kristina Peterson and Michael R. Crittenden

July 31, 2014

GOP Leaders Attempt to Regroup on Border Bill 

WASHINGTON—Deep divisions among House Republicans over immigration forced their leaders to pull from the floor on Thursday a bill dealing with the surge of young illegal immigrants on the nation's Southern border.

The sudden canceling of the vote on the $659 million border bill was an embarrassment to Republican leaders elected in the wake of House Majority Leader Eric Cantor's primary upset in June and scheduled to officially assume their new roles at midnight.

Delaying the start of their five-week August recess for a day, House Republicans were expected to meet Friday morning in hopes of finding modest changes that could help secure support for the bill from a majority of House Republicans. Lawmakers said they expected to tighten and clarify provisions to satisfy members concerned the bill contained problematic loopholes. Their goal is to pass a modified bill on Friday.

The measure would provide about one-fifth of the $3.7 billion President Barack Obama had asked for to deal with the crisis.

In the Senate, a bill from Democrats that included $2.7 billion to deal with the border stalled on a procedural vote amid largely GOP resistance.

Opposition from the most conservative lawmakers siphoned off support for the House bill, with some legislators worried about its cost and others concerned it didn't go far enough to stop the surge of more than 57,000 Central American children who have arrived since October or to prevent more crossings. The measure would beef up border security and speed deportations of children migrating from Central America by changing a 2008 anti-trafficking law.

GOP leaders had successfully won over some conservatives by deciding Wednesday night to add a vote aimed at stopping Mr. Obama from expanding his 2012 decision to halt deportations of some young illegal immigrants settled in the U.S, but discovered they were still short the necessary votes during floor debate on the bill.

The unyielding resistance from the anti-immigration Republicans triggered fierce pushback from others who have tired of GOP struggles to pass legislation amid the internal feuding.

"There are some people around here who go through all sorts of contortions figuring out how to get to no," said Rep. Charlie Dent (R., Pa.).

When House GOP leaders signaled the chamber would skip a vote on the border bill, rank-and-file Republicans swarmed them on the floor, urging them to regroup. The result was a nearly two-hour, closed-door huddle, where lawmakers persuaded leaders not to abandon the bill.

House Republicans also criticized the involvement of GOP Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Jeff Sessions of Alabama, whose lobbying they saw as meddling from the other chamber.

"Some outspoken members, particularly at the other end of the Capitol, who have weighed in on the issue, have basically given concerns to some members on this side there would be political consequences," said Rep. Steve Womack (R., Ark.). "The political consequences are much more severe if this Congress goes back to an August recess not having addressed this subject."

The aborted vote dealt a blow to incoming House Whip Steve Scalise (R., La.) and Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.), the most recent whip, who is succeeding Mr. Cantor as majority leader. House GOP leaders assiduously had worked to court conservatives' vote on the bill, holding multiple listening sessions and adjusting the bill several times to respond to lawmakers' concerns.

While Mr. Scalise and Mr. McCarthy officially assume their roles at midnight Thursday, they had been transitioning into their new offices for the past month. Mr. Scalise had become increasingly involved in corralling support and counting votes in the last week, GOP aides said. While the chaotic afternoon did little to bolster the new team's reputation, many lawmakers said GOP leaders were not at fault for struggling to unify an often-fractious conference.

"The leadership is doing their best, what do you want them to do? We run into the same roadblocks every time," said Rep. Devin Nunes (R., Calif.).

Meanwhile, GOP leaders' decision to schedule the separate vote aimed at preventing any expansion of the 2012 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program carried some political risk for Republicans seeking to shore up support among Hispanic voters, who overwhelmingly backed Mr. Obama in 2012.

Democrats said the GOP disarray over the border bill only added to the GOP's future political challenges of winning over Hispanic votes."With the Latino community, they're in a pretty deep hole, and this is just evidence that they continue to dig a little deeper," said Rep. Pete Gallego, a Texas Democrat whose district is on the border with Mexico.

The White House had blasted the scheduled DACA vote. The House approach "is about rounding up and deporting 11 million people, separating families and undermining DHS' ability to secure the border," White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said in a statement.

Shortly after pulling the border bill from the floor Thursday, House GOP leaders had called on the administration to take steps on its own to secure the borders.

"There are numerous steps the president can and should be taking right now, without the need for congressional action, to secure our borders and ensure these children are returned swiftly and safely to their countries," House GOP leaders said in a joint statement.

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