WASHINGTON – Unwilling to strike a bargain on the border crisis, House Republicans fell into disarray Thursday as they postponed a five-week break with no answer for the surge of illegal immigration that has brought tens of thousands of children from Central America to the Rio Grande Valley.
Texas Sen. Cruz scuttles vote on immigration money
Lawmakers had hoped to leave town, instead they will come back today to take up immigration bill.
August 1, 2014 at 1:56AM
In the center of the political drama was Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, who led a bloc of Tea Party Republicans to derail a $659 million plan put forward by House GOP leaders.
Hours later, a separate $2.7 billion border bill was blocked by a procedural vote in the Senate, leaving President Obama's border initiative in shambles.
With a divided GOP caucus, pro-immigrant street protests outside the White House, and finger-pointing on Capitol Hill, the impasse leaves unclear how the administration will handle the rising costs of the humanitarian crisis.
House GOP leaders said they would meet with their caucus Friday morning to chart a way ahead. But further action in the Senate seemed uncertain. With 60 votes needed to overcome a Republican budgetary point of order, Democratic leaders were able to muster only 50.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry, meanwhile, issued a statement saying Congress should stay until the "job is completed."
Politically, the House GOP uprising was an embarrassing setback for Speaker John Boehner and his new leadership team, who hoped to deliver a GOP solution to a border crunch that has sparked a nationwide debate over immigration in the run-up to the November midterm elections.
Apparently short of votes, Boehner abruptly tabled a stopgap measure to provide law enforcement and humanitarian aid through September and make it easier to deport Central American children.
The Senate plan was still short of the $3.7 billion requested by the president, but it would have enabled Democrats to portray their Republican foes as an obstructionist force in the face of a humanitarian emergency.
While the focus was on Vice President Kamala Harris in their first media interview of the presidential campaign, Walz was asked if voters could take him at his word.
