Winning?
House Republicans have apparently reached some kind of consensus on a
border crisis bill, even though it won't accomplish anything other than having a vote.
Multiple sources say that the leadership will propose language authored by Reps. John Carter (R-Texas) and Robert Aderholt (R-Ala.) to tighten a 2008 law that made it harder to deport children from countries other than Canada and Mexico. The Republicans will also include language that is meant to send National Guard money directly to governors and target President Barack Obama’s ability to issue work permits to migrants. […]
The National Guard provision costs $35 million, raising the bills cost to $694 million. The legislation will be offset with spending cuts.
The GOP leadership is also trying to tweak language they initially proposed on Wednesday, which would block Obama from allowing more undocumented immigrants already living here to be granted a reprieve from deportations. The new provision, penned by Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), is tougher than the language Republican leadership originally intended to use.
They
reportedly split the bill into two again, one for the funding and another to
retroactively freeze President Obama's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program as of July 30, 2014. That's the part of the bill
to appease de facto House Speaker Ted Cruz.
To get a sense of how bad this bill is going to be, you don't need to look any further than Rep. Steve "Cantaloupes" King, who says he's leaning "yes" on the effort, and thinks it will get passed.
To what end, though? It obviously would face a veto, should the Senate even think about taking it up and passing it. And that couldn't happen before September, because the Senate is out. The only thing House Republicans gain by this is the ability to say, "Look, we acted on it and Harry Reid didn't." That's all they get, and anyone watching this insanity knows it:
There is something surreal about all this gop effort to pass a house border bill that's going no where & never was. Total show vote
— @DanaBashCNN
8:21 AM PT: More information is leaking out about the outlines of this new effort:
Lawmakers and aides: new DACA change is that current beneficiaries are BLOCKED from renewing.
— @seungminkim
Which Michele Bachmann
loves.
Bachmann raves about the new GOP border bill, says it's about "stopping the invasion of illegal foreign nationals into our country."
— @sahilkapur
King and Bachmann on board? Ted Cruz did win.