Thursday, July 31, 2014

BREAKING: Divided House Abandons Vote On Border Bill

by JASmius

Ding dong, no amnesty lifeline for Red Barry - for now, at least:

The House has abandoned a vote on legislation to address the immigration crisis on the border after tea partyers withdrew their support in a dispute over a separate measure on deportations.

Speaker John Boehner issued a statement Thursday saying the House would continue to work on solutions to the crisis. His statement came shortly after the House postponed the vote on the final day before a five-week summer break.

"There are numerous steps the president can and should be taking right now, without the need for congressional action, to secure our borders and ensure these children are returned swiftly and safely to their countries," House Speaker John Boehner and other Republican leaders said in a statement. "We will continue to work on solutions to the border crisis and other challenges facing our country,"

Looks like fences have been mended between House Tea Partiers and Senator Ted Cruz after last summer's "defundageddon" debacle.  They were all on the same page and prevented Speaker Boehner and the House GOP leadership from making a grievous error.

What surprises me is that House Democrats didn't throw Boehner a lifeline.  As I've been saying this week, all the minority would need to have done is give the Speaker enough votes to reach 218 on his proposal to send something to conference committee.  There, Harry (G)Reid would have promptly gutted it and replaced it with the $2.7 billion amnesty sop the Senate passed, after which the House GOP would have had to either cave or be defenestrated again as "racist obstructionists" for having dignified O's amnesty subsidy request in the first place.  Far better to kill it aborning now and leave The One twisting in the wind, with no cover for his threatened illegal amnesty decree to come before labor day "legalizing" as many as six million foreign nationals.  I guess Team Pelosi was low on guile today.

So go ahead, your infernal majesty: Make our day, and end a dozen Senate Democrats' careers.  We double-dog dare you.


UPDATE: Double-dog dammit!:

In the Speaker's lobby just off the House floor, members of Congress were full of recriminations over how the border bill had just died - until it sprang back to life.

Now they have emerged from a last minute conference meeting vowing to “stay until we vote” and planning another meeting for tomorrow morning at 9:00am, although it's unclear what changes either to the legislative package or the support for the current one will change in the meantime.

They just can't settle for victory, can they?  Not when there's any chance at turning it into another defeat.

Might as well play another eighteen holes, Barry.  This could take awhile.

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