Plan for Young Migrants at Impasse in Congress

[alp227]

Source: NY Times

WASHINGTON — Lawmakers are deadlocked on a plan to deal with the surge in migrant children who are filling detention centers along the Mexican border, with both Democrats and Republicans saying Tuesday that it was increasingly unlikely they could reach an accord before Congress leaves town for a five-week recess at the end of the month.

Senate Democrats’ plan, which they will formally introduce Wednesday, calls for roughly $2.7 billion to stem the crisis — nearly $1 billion less than President Obama requested but enough, they said, to get through the end of the year. Republicans in the House and Senate rejected it out of hand, saying that it amounted to giving the president a blank check because it did not include any changes to immigration law to address the overall problem.

The impasse was another measure of how the partisan gridlock that has gripped Capitol Hill has doomed almost any attempt at compromise. Since the bipartisan immigration bill that passed the Senate last year died in the Republican-controlled House this summer, the flood of children at the southern border has emerged as a fevered proxy fight over the nation’s broken immigration system.

“Unfortunately, it looks like we’re on a track to do absolutely nothing,” said Senator John Cornyn of Texas, the No. 2 Senate Republican. “That’s a tragedy, not just for us but for all of these children who are being lured to our borders.”

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/23/us/plan-for-young-migrants-at-impasse-in-congress.html

[dballance]

1. I wonder how far Cornyn's nose grew when he said this...

“Unfortunately, it looks like we’re on a track to do absolutely nothing,” said Senator John Cornyn of Texas, the No. 2 Senate Republican. “That’s a tragedy, not just for us but for all of these children who are being lured to our borders.”

Note: We're on a track to do absolutely nothing is pretty much the battle cry for the House GOP.

On Edit: I like how he worked the Obama is "luring" these kids to our borders meme into the statement too. Who is the central PR agency for talking points for the GOP? There really MUST be some PR/Media/Strategy group that is coordinating all the talking points. The GOP reps and staffers must be on some SMS distribution list because they react in such a "Borg-like" collective manner at all times.

[JDPriestly]

2. This was predictable from the beginning.

Therefore my proposal that Obama, as Commander in Chief take money from the military budget and as an emergency measure shift it to care for these children.

A lot of people dissed me for saying that. But the reaction of conservatives in Congress was obvious even before the first child placed her foot on American soil.

The Republicans are out of touch with reality.

Obama is commander-in-chief with emergency powers in case of insurgency. He should label the influx of refugees as an invasion and take money from some discretionary military project or use and apply to caring for these children.

Or in the alternative, he could house them in tents and tell them to occupy the National Mall until Congress finally has a change of heart.

These children need social services. As more and more of them arrive, our existing social service capacity will be exhausted very quickly even with the assistance of church organizations.

The services the children need are very complicated and will cost a lot of money. They have to have adult supervision until they are 18 and probably beyond. They are refugees, but without visas as far as I can tell. They have to be processed by immigration courts. The cost will be enormous. Medical care, education, etc. Just an enormous task.

[grilled onions]

3. The Vacation Excuse

Every time "we the people" expect a little work out of these useless non working Congressmen they complain with one hand while packing their luggage with the other.