Reuters/Washington

Leading Republicans said yesterday they believe an extra $1.5bn is the most Congress should spend through December to address the surge of migrant children at the southern US border, far below the $3.7bn requested by President Barack Obama.
House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner said he and his fellow Republicans discussed paring down Democrat Obama’s request “to about $1.5bn.” Boehner was quick to add, however, that no decisions had been made on whether to bring such a bill to the House floor for a vote.
With Congress preparing to start a five-week break tomorrow and no compromise in sight, it was not clear whether Obama will get any of the emergency funding he asked for to address the influx of 57,000 unaccompanied children this year.
Signalling problems ahead, Boehner said, “Without trying to fix the (immigration) problem, I don’t see how we actually are in a position to give the president any more money.”
Boehner was referring to demands by congressional Republicans that changes to a 2008 human anti-trafficking law be included in the spending bill. Such changes would allow the Obama administration to more quickly deport the children, who are from Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala.
The children, often traveling without parents or relatives, are hoping to reunite with family members already in the US. By year’s end, the arrivals could total 90,000, according to government projections.
Obama has signalled he also supports changing the law, but he has run into fierce opposition from many Democrats in Congress. They warn against sending the children back, without thorough asylum hearings, to the drug- and gang-related violence they are trying to escape in Central America.
The $1.5bn being weighed in the House is also far less than the $3.7bn Senate Democrats said they will seek.
Unlike the Senate, House Republicans are talking about offsetting the cost of added border funds by reducing spending in other areas of the government.
Meanwhile, a House Republican working group issued its recommendations.
As expected, it included a call for changing the 2008 anti-trafficking law. It also recommended deploying the National Guard to help the US Border Patrol care for the children, funding the hiring of extra judges to hear asylum claims and establishing repatriation centres in the countries they come from.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Democrat, said on Tuesday he hoped Congress would act on the emergency funding before the August recess. “These agencies are going to run out of money in mid-August,” Reid said.
Still, some conservatives oppose additional funding. Republican US Representative Mo Brooks of Alabama said spending billions of dollars on the border problem was “financial insanity.”
“There’s no way in the world I’ll support spending $1bn to $1.5bn when you can solve the problem for $20mn to $30mn,” Brooks said, saying the children could immediately be put on flights home for that cost or less.
A House Republican aide said if Congress is unable to agree on an emergency spending bill by the end of next week, the agencies might have to scrounge around for money appropriated for other programmes that likely will not be used this year. Or, the aide said, Congress might have to approve a patch that would allow money to be rerouted from various government agencies.