UPDATE II: Breitbart News has learned that there may be additional votes after a 3pm conference meeting. Developing…
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UPDATE: Believing they would not have the votes to pass their own bill, House leadership has canceled the vote on Boehner’s border bill.
The Speaker’s office released the following statement:
This situation shows the intense concern within our conference – and among the American people – about the need to ensure the security of our borders and the president’s refusal to faithfully execute our laws. 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. For the past month, the House has been engaged in intensive efforts to pass legislation that would compel the president to do his job and ensure it can be done as quickly and compassionately as possible. Through an inclusive process, a border bill was built by listening to members and the American people that has the support not just of a majority of the majority in the House, but most of the House Republican Conference. We will continue to work on solutions to the border crisis and other challenges facing our country.”
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The American people have overloaded the Congressional phone lines yet again on Thursday, pressuring their members of Congress to vote against the House and Senate immigration bills.
The Capitol Hill switchboard line was busy when Breitbart News called at 11:30 a.m., in response to Speaker John Boehner’s effort to pass a supplemental funding bill that has minor policy changes–and includes a separate vote on language dealing with the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) that is substantially different from the original language from Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN).
A number of aides and other sources on Capitol Hill have similarly confirmed that the lines on the hill are again overloaded.
Over on the Senate side, Democrats are trying to pass a bill that would give Obama more than $3 billion worth of new funding–a bill once thought to be easily killed, but that was allowed unexpectedly to proceed after 11 establishment Republicans voted for a procedural measure on Wednesday that let it continue to stay alive.
Senate Budget Committee ranking member Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Congress’s fiercest immigration hawk, has come out against both efforts and called on lawmakers in both parties and both houses of Congress to join him in fighting both bills. Sessions previously called on Americans to burn the phone lines, a call they’ve heeded throughout the week–just a few days ago, the phones reached critical mass, as well.
“We’ve sent over a quarter of a million emails to conservatives urging them to call Congress and oppose the House Republican leadership’s flawed border bill, which in our opinion would make it even easier for President Obama to declare an executive amnesty for millions of illegal aliens,” George Rasley, the editor of Richard Viguerie’s ConservativeHQ.com, told Breitbart News.
“Congress is about to leave on vacation, but not before they try to pull a fast one on you!” Tea Party Patriots sent to its members on Thursday morning. “We still need to call and tell Congress no on the border bailout unless they include the Cruz language to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.”
Tea Party Patriots included a list of “things you need to know” for its members, too. The list includes that the House bill “doesn’t sufficiently stop DACA” and that the House leadership has altered Blackburn’s original bill that at first mirrored language that Cruz introduced. “The House leadership wants the bills to be separate so that their bill will pass and Blackburn’s will fail,” Tea Party Patriots wrote. “Late last night we learned that the language being circulated now as the ‘DACA fix’ in the House is weak and doesn’t come close to what Senator Ted Cruz’s version would do.”
“There’s a possibility that the Republican establishment doesn’t have the votes and the supplemental bill won’t pass (this means we need to put all the pressure in the world on them),” Tea Party Patriots added. “There seems to be some bait and switch going on here, so we have to melt the phone lines today before Congress goes on vacation!”
NumbersUSA, a grassroots anti-amnesty group with over three million members, has also aggressively opposed the House and Senate bills.
The American Family Association, another group with millions of members, has issued alerts calling on the American people to rise up against their members of Congress if they vote for Boehner’s bill. AFA said in an alert sent out late Wednesday:
House Republicans are considering passing a bill this week that would give President Obama more money, but would do absolutely nothing to block his plan to extend amnesty to another 5 or 6 million illegal aliens with another wholly illegal executive order.
Due to the president’s irresponsible policies, our border is being overrun by illegal aliens who have no legal right to live or work in this country. In state after state and community after community, they are overwhelming relief services, welfare budgets, and law enforcement resources, and taking jobs that rightfully belong to American citizens. This tide of illegal immigration threatens our health, our public safety, and our national security. It’s time for this dangerous pattern to stop.
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