Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said even if House Republicans get the votes necessary to pass its emergency border spending bill, there isn’t enough support in the Senate for the “wrong-headed” measure.
“The House appears to be getting from bad to worse as the House Republican Majority hunts for votes,” Reid said on the Senate floor Friday. “House Republicans will vote to deport children that have been living in the U.S. for their entire lives, all in a pathetic attempt to appease the Tea Party.”
{mosads}House Republican leaders are scrambling to get enough votes to pass their $659 million bill that aims to address the influx of immigrant children being detained at the U.S.-Mexico border. They’re hoping to hold a vote Friday before leaving for the five-week August recess.
Democrats oppose immigration reforms Republicans are considering attaching to the spending bill, including amending a 2008 human trafficking law to make it easier for authorities to send back children from Central America to their home countries.
Some Republicans have also proposed sending more National Guard troops to the border and deporting “dreamers,” undocumented children who were brought to the United States by their parents before 2007.
“If the House does pass a bill, I can’t imagine it could be cleared on either side over here,” Reid said.
On Thursday, a $2.7 billion proposal failed to gain enough support to advance in the Senate, meaning Congress won’t address the issue before leaving town.
President Obama originally asked for $3.7 billion to provide legal services and temporarily house and feed the thousands of children fleeing Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala.