On Wednesday night I wrote how it "could be a messy final few hours in Congress on Thursday."
I sure hit that one on the head.
Instead of focusing their attacks on Democrats and President Obama over immigration issues, Republicans in Congress spent a full day battling each other on Thursday, as House GOP leaders delayed the start of a summer break in an effort to approve a bill that deals with the recent surge of kids across the southern U.S. border.
"We're going to stay until we get the job done," said Rep. Bill Johnson (R-OH) as he emerged from a hastily called closed door meeting of GOP lawmakers, some of whom had to be summoned back from the airport.
The $659 million border bill looked dead after a revolt led by a group of more conservative Republicans, who argued the GOP bill wasn't tough enough on illegal immigration, even though it had been tweaked several times to gain their votes.
"I'm still a no," said Rep. John Fleming (R-LA), who joined other Republicans - many from the South - in demanding a much tougher bill to deal with the border, even though the plan will go nowhere in the Senate.
"Our intent is to get an almost immediate deportation," said Rep. Austin Scott (R-GA), who said he felt "an almost unanimous" feeling in the GOP meeting to delay their summer break in order to reach a deal.
"I think we're not that far apart," said Rep. Richard Nugent (R-FL), as some lawmakers said outside groups had misrepresented what was in the bill, sparking all kinds of phone calls from back home.
But there was no immediate sign of a deal as the sun went down, as Democrats were pressing their members to oppose any GOP plan, thrilled with the day of high legislative anxiety that the GOP provided on Thursday.
"I cannot recall such chaos during my 16 terms in the House," said Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-OH).
"House GOP in chaos," said Rep. Betty McCollum (D-MN).
"House GOP is once again fighting with itself - and losing," tweeted Rep. Jared Huffman (D-CA).
Republicans will hold another meeting at 9 am on Friday to go over their next move on immigration - but it wasn't clear whether they would be able to forge a deal, as a number of GOP lawmakers argued doing nothing would hurt them politically.
"In my opinion, it's too bad we didn't do it today," said Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX), who said he was going to the border for a visit on Monday.
"You have a lot of members who just don't want to vote for anything," said an exasperated Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) who complained that more conservative GOP members don't seem to understand the failure to act will make it easier for President Obama to cast Republicans as the problem.
"I'm disappointed," said Rep. Hal Rogers (R-KY), who was in charge of the bill on the House floor.
While Republicans were unable to move a border bill on Thursday, so too was the Senate, where GOP Senators kept Democrats from getting 60 votes to proceed on a $2.7 billion measure.
It was a fresh reminder of just how difficult the issue is politically, and why this Congress has been unable to reach an agreement on overall immigration reform legislation.
The tide of events also represented the end of one era, as Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA) stepped away from the job of House Majority Leader, and Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) took his place.
McCarthy's first email to fellow Republicans on Friday's schedule offered no guide on what might be voted on by lawmakers:
"Possible consideration of Supplemental Appropriations related to the situation along the Southern border," was all it said.
The Senate is gone until September 8. The House will soon follow - but it's not clear if there will be a border bill approved in the House by then or not.
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