A day after Republicans almost went home for a summer break after a legislative meltdown over immigration, GOP lawmakers rallied around a revised plan to deal with a surge of kids across the southern border, approving a $734 million plan to bolster security and a separate measure to block the President from allowing young illegal immigrants to stay in the U.S.
The vote was 223-189 in favor of the re-worked spending plan for border security, as only four GOP lawmakers broke ranks to join with Democrats to oppose the measure, which Republican leaders said was necessary to stop a recent jump in illegal immigration.
A second bill was also approved on a vote of 216-192, which stops the Obama Administration from using prosecutorial discretion to avoid deporting young people who are here in the U.S. illegally; it also stops the feds from giving work permits to those who are in the U.S. without offiical permission.
"This border crisis is of the President's making," said Rep. Keith Rothfus (R-PA), as Republicans said the Obama Administration's move to stop the deporation of younger people in the U.S. illegally had caused the recent surge in children across the border.
Several hours before the Friday night vote, President Obama slammed Republicans for moving a plan that Democrats hotly opposed.
"House Republicans, as we speak, are trying to pass the most extreme and unworkable versions of a bill that they already know is going nowhere, that can't pass the Senate and that if it were to pass the Senate I would veto," the President told reporters at a news conference.
Democrats used the unusual Friday night debate to pile on as well, accusing the GOP of playing politics.
"This bill is shameful," said Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA).
"This bill is going nowhere," added Rep. Nita Lowey (D-NY).
"This isn't a border security crisis, this is a humanitarian crisis," said Rep. David Price (D-NC).
But Republicans weren't interested in such talk, as they argued Democrats and the President were ignoring the basic issue - that the federal government needs to better secure the southern border.
"First of all, our border needs to be secured so our immigration system can be reformed," said Rep. Marlin Stutzman (R-IN).
"The American people expect us to do our jobs," said Rep. Charlie Dent (R-PA).
"We have both a border and humanitarian crisis to deal with, and they expect us to take action now," Dent told reporters after a closed door GOP meeting.
The $734 million spending plan for the border - which was paid for with offsetting budget cuts - would be divided this way according to a GOP handout:
+ $405 million for the Department of Homeland Security to boost border security and law enforcement activities.
+ $22 million to accelerate judicial proceedings for immigrants.
+ $70 million for National Guard border efforts: $35 million for the federal deployment of the Guard and $35 million for reimbursing states for their use of the Guard on the Southern Border.
+ $197 million for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to provide temporary housing and humanitarian assistance to unaccompanied minors.
+ $40 million in repatriation assistance to Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador. This funding is redirected from within existing foreign aid for Central American countries so that these repatriation activities are immediately prioritized.
The debate also got pointed at times, and included the somewhat rare breach of decorum by House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), who walked across the floor to interrupt a speech by Rep. Tom Marino (R-PA).
Video of the House proceedings shows Pelosi not only interrupting Marino, but then charging back across the floor, waving her finger at Marino just after he finished his speech, in which he attacked Democrats for doing nothing about immigration reform when they were in charge of the House and Senate.
Marino spoke out about it later on Twitter:
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