The United States House of Representatives will try in coming days to pass legislation giving President Barack Obama additional funds to deal with a flood of Central American child immigrants, after Republicans who control the chamber on Thursday revolted against a $659 million measure, according to The Associated Press.
Republicans held a closed meeting at the Capitol after plans fell apart to pass their immigration funding bill. Another such meeting was set for early Friday, the AP reported.
Republicans left Thursday's session telling reporters they will stay in Washington until they hold a vote on the House floor on legislation dealing with the tens of thousands of children, mostly from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, who have amassed at the southwestern border, according to the AP.
The House was to have begun a five-week summer recess on Thursday, but chaos within Republican ranks left Republicans with little choice but to stay in Washington, the AP reported.
"We'll be here until we vote," Republican Representative Spencer Bachus of Alabama told reporters after the closed meeting, but it was not yet clear what bill, if any, will be put up for a vote, according to the AP.
Whatever bill House Republicans can manage to pass is likely to be rejected by the Democratic-controlled Senate, which is weighing its own $2.7 billion emergency funding bill, the AP reported.
House Republicans, who have blocked comprehensive immigration legislation the Senate passed last year, were nervous about facing constituents over the long break without voting on something to deal with the problem Obama has termed a humanitarian crisis, according to the AP.
House Speaker John Boehner had tried to get enough support from his fellow Republicans for the spending bill all week, besides producing legislation that was far less expensive than Obama's $3.7 billion request, Boehner also arranged for a vote on a second immigration-related measure on Thursday, the AP reported.
The second bill would have prohibited Obama from taking new steps on his own to suspend deportations of undocumented residents living in the United States for some time with their families and without criminal records, but even that was not enough, as the two votes scheduled for Thursday were abruptly canceled, leaving Boehner and his leadership team to scurry for a new strategy, according to the AP.
