House Gop Divisions On Border Bill Delay Getaway

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republican leaders struggled to round up votes from recalcitrant conservatives for a bill dealing with the immigrant surge at the U.S.-Mexico border and head home for a five-week summer break boasting of acting to address the crisis. In a surprising setback, the leadership on Thursday was forced to abandon a vote on the slimmed-down $659 million measure, then huddled with GOP members — some who had rushed back from airports — to figure out a way to secure passage of a bill that would make it easier to deport the tens of thousands of unaccompanied children from Central America flooding into the United States. Republicans planned to meet again Friday in hopes that revised versions of the border bill and a companion measure designed to rein in President Barack Obama's ability to take executive actions on deportations could sway tea partyers and other conservatives. Even if House leaders prevail, the Senate blocked its version of the border bill late Thursday, meaning no measure heads to Obama's desk, despite lawmakers' insistence that they need to resolve a dire problem. The scuttled House vote was an embarrassment for the new GOP leadership team of Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., and Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., led by Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio. The Senate blocked a $3.5 billion border package that also included money for Western wildfires and Israel, with Republicans and two Democrats — Louisiana's Mary Landrieu and Joe Manchin of West Virginia — opposed. Despite overwhelming support for Israel, Congress was unable to approve an Obama administration request for $225 million for the Iron Dome missile defense system that has been effective in intercepting mortars and rockets fired into Israel by Hamas militants.