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Update from Capitol Hill

by etouhey

The House is once again trying to pass an emergency supplemental bill that would provide stepped up funding for federal agencies to deal with the flood of unaccompanied immigrant children across the U.S.-Mexico border as they flee violence in Central America. Just before Noon, members approved, 219-190, a same-day rule from the Rules Committee that would allow the House to bring a new bill back to the floor later today.

The Rules Committee is meeting again today to approve another rule for debate on two separate bills. One bill would provide an additional $35 million in funding for the national guard, bringing the new total on border security funding to $695 million.

A second bill would change a 2008 anti-trafficking law to limit the president's executive order on the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and would allow unaccompanied minors from Central America to be held in custody rather than being released to relatives here in the U.S.

In a news conference today, President Obama chided Congress for passing "message bills" instead of solving the problem and giving him a bill that he can sign.

A spokesman for Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) responded to the president, saying, "When it comes to the humanitarian crisis on our southern border, President Obama has been completely AWOL – in fact, he has made matters worse by flip-flopping on the 2008 law that fueled the crisis. Senate Democrats have left town without acting on his request for a border supplemental. Right now, House Republicans are the only ones still working to address this crisis."

House Republican leaders pulled the original bill on Wednesday just after lawmakers debated it, and in one of his first actions taking over as Majority Leader, Representative Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) disappointed fellow legislators by announcing they'd be back for another day. The announcement drew vocal displeasure from rank-and-file members in the chamber.

Even if the House ends up passing its own legislation, it faces an uncertain future in the Democrat-controlled Senate, where a much larger $3.6 billion bill, including funds to help replenish Israel's Iron Dome missile defense system and to fight Western U.S. wildfires was sidelined by a procedural vote that would have waived a budgetary point of order.

The Senate moved quickly earlier today to pass a new measure providing the funding for the Iron Dome missile program, and it's possible the funding could be taken up in the House this afternoon.

Late Thursday, the Senate approved the conference agreement between House and Senate lawmakers on a bill that would overhaul the Department of Veterans Affairs and its health care delivery for former soldiers. The measure, which would provide billions to establish a new program tapping private providers to care for veterans living more than 40 miles from the nearest VA-administered facility, now goes to President Obama for his signature.

Senators also voted to agree to the original House version of a bill that will supplement federal fuel taxes to keep the Highway Trust Fund solvent through the spring. Senators voted Wednesday to modify that patch so it would last only through the end of the year, but the House voted to disagree to those changes on Thursday, effectively ending the standoff.