Democrat Disarray On Border Crisis and Obama Border Bill

Today in Washington, D.C. - July 21, 2014
The House was not in session today. Thy are scheduled to reconvene tomorrow at 12:00 PM on Tuesday, July 22, 2014.

The Senate will reconvene at 2 PM today and be in a period of morning business. At 5:30, the Senate will vote on confirmation of the nominations of Julie Carnes to be United States Circuit Judge for the Eleventh Circuit and Eunice Reddick to be U.S. Ambassador to Niger. Tomorrow, cloture votes on three district court judges are scheduled for 10:45 AM.

Democrat Disarray On Border Crisis:
Politico reports today, “President Barack Obama’s response to the southern border crisis is under fire from an unlikely source: fellow Democrats. Republicans have seized on the ballooning number of unaccompanied children crossing into Texas as proof of Obama’s failed immigration policies. But Democrats are also frustrated and are increasingly blaming the White House for bungling the response to the situation on the border. As Congress struggles to agree on emergency funding in response to the crisis, Democrats are taking the White House to task any chance they get. They are giving floor speeches, arguing the administration doesn’t understand the root cause of the crisis. They are sparring with administration officials in closed-door discussions. And they say Obama should have better consulted lawmakers before backing a policy change deeply opposed by their party.”

The Hill adds, “Centrist and liberal Democrats are battling one another over the emergency spending package for child immigrants at the southern border. Worried about voter anger over illegal immigration in a midterm election year, centrists want Congress to examine changes to special legal protections granted to immigrants from Central America. But the changes are hotly opposed by powerful liberals, including Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (Ill.) and Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), who worry they could put children from Central America in jeopardy. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has sided with the liberals and senior members of his caucus, agreeing that the $3.7 billion in emergency spending should not include policy changes empowering the administration to deport unaccompanied minors more quickly. But centrist Democrats are pressing Reid to give ground.”

So on one side are Democrats who say the law needs to be changed, and on the other side are Democrats who reject that, and Democrats on both sides seem to be venting their frustrations at the White House.

Among those looking for changes to the law are Sens. Joe Manchin (D-WV), Tom Carper (D-DE), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Claire McCaskill (D-MO) and Angus King (I-ME), according to The Hill. “‘Just a clean 3.7 [billion]? No, I think we have to make sure we have the direction we’re going to spend that,’ said Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), when asked if he would vote for a spending bill that did not make policy changes. . . . Sen. Tom Carper (D) said the funding and the policy changes should move together. ‘I think they go together,’ he said. . . . ‘I’m interested in seeing some of the other proposals around policy changes. I do think there may be some things we can change that help expedite proceedings for some of the people who are here,’ said Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D), who is in the midst of a competitive race in New Hampshire. ‘It seems to me we ought to be able to find some middle ground here that everybody can agree to.’ . . . Sen. Claire McCaskill (Mo.), another Democratic centrist, said, ‘I think we should have the same law on the books for Central America as we have for Canada and Mexico.’ . . . Sen. Angus King, an independent from Maine who caucuses with Democrats, said . . . ‘I think I could certainly support what the administration is proposing. That’s simply giving the kids who have the discretion to make this kind of decision an option.’” Politico notes Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) making similar comments: “Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who wrote the 2008 law, said she was not upset with the White House, saying: ‘Our country has never before faced these kinds of circumstances.’ And she seemed open to changes in the statute to ensure that kids from other countries — such as Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras — are treated the same as Mexicans. ‘Do we want to? No,’ Feinstein said when asked if Congress would have to change the law. ‘But we may need to because this isn’t something that’s just going to be with us for the next month.’”

But, The Hill writes, “Senate Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.), who is putting the Senate bill together, told colleagues in a floor speech last week that policy changes were not necessary. . . . Reid has sided with Mikulski, Durbin and Leahy. ‘There's leeway there [so] that the executive branch of the government doesn't need new legislation,’ the Senate leader said this week in response to calls for changing the 2008 trafficking law. . . . [Sen. Bob] Menendez [D-NJ] on Friday argued that is not necessary because the administration already has the power to offer voluntary return trips. ‘I believe if you read the law as it is today a Central American child can seek voluntary departure,’ he said.”

And Politico documents Democrats unloading their disagreements and frustrations on the White House. “Democrats argue the administration has complicated the issue. White House officials are open to changing the 2008 law and initially signaled that it would ask Congress for revisions so Obama could have ‘additional authority to exercise discretion’ in deportation cases. But immigration advocates were furious over the plan. And Obama did not send along any suggested policy changes when he submitted a $3.7 billion emergency spending request earlier this month, though officials stills say they are considering revisions. Congressional Democrats are left perplexed.” In addition, “Tension between the administration and congressional Democrats is becoming more common,” Politico writes. “Many Democrats are still fuming about last year’s troubled rollout of Obamacare. The party has been on the defensive over the Bowe Bergdahl prisoner trade swap. The recent veterans health care scandal left many angry. And with Obama’s poll numbers tanking, many plainly fear that all the bad news will make it harder to maintain control of the Senate in the fall elections.”

The result being annoyed responses like that of Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA). “‘They sure didn’t check with me,’ said Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. “I don’t know who they checked with, but I just think it was kind of a quick reaction without really thinking about the humanitarian aspects of this.’ . . . The issue came to a head at a closed-door briefing for senators Wednesday evening with Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson, Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell and other senior administration officials. At the meeting, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) pressed Johnson on the matter, saying that the administration did not need change the law to deal with children from countries other than Mexico, sources said. Johnson, however, stood his ground and said the law needed a modification, something that prompted Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) to side with Leahy, attendees said. . . . [T]he disagreements with the White House extend to House Democrats, too. Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.) indicated that the White House should not have initially signaled it was willing to accept changes to the 2008 trafficking law. ‘I try never to negotiate against myself,’ Gutierrez said. . . . The Congressional Hispanic Caucus has been working overtime to persuade fellow Democrats against changes to the trafficking statute – even as one of their own, moderate Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas), introduced legislation with Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) to revise the 2008 law. . . . Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.), who attended a meeting between Obama and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus at the White House on Wednesday, said Democrats ‘had to scramble’ to lobby against changes to the 2008 law once they were publicly floated.”

The upshot of this mess is that Democrats are in disarray and can’t agree on a solution while the Obama administration’s notoriously bad relationship with both parties in Congress hasn’t helped matters. But instead of President Obama working on a solution to the crisis on the border, both within his party and with Republicans, he’s got more campaign speeches and fundraisers scheduled this week. And Democrat leaders in the Senate are readying yet more show votes on bills that are designed to fail.

As Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said recently, “[M]uch more needs to be done, and the President knows it. His original letter to Congress called for reforms we all know are needed to address this crisis. Under pressure from the Left, he has since backed away from those critical reforms, but lawmakers in both parties have not. So he needs to work with us to get the right policy into effect. And he needs to halt his endless campaigning.”

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