A small group of lawmakers appointed by Speaker John Boehner to craft a response to the tens of thousands of illegal alien children streaming across the southern U.S. border has delayed a report of its recommendations while officials consider a broader response, according to the leader of the group, Rep. Kay Granger (R-TX).
Granger referred obliquely to a major new proposal issued behind the scenes that was under consideration.
“Someone introduced something new we haven’t got into,” she said, explaining why the group hadn’t issued its report today, as lawmakers had vowed Tuesday.
Asked what the proposal was, Granger said “I can’t tell you that.” Asked what topic it concerned, she said “I can’t tell you that either.”
“More than anything,” Granger said, the negotiations are over “how broad or narrow the bill will be, how much we stick to just a few things or do we go into some wish lists of other members.”
“It’s still a negotiation,” she said.
Noting the group had failed to meet prior self-imposed deadlines, Granger said Wednesday only that she hoped the House would pass the resulting bill – or, potentially two bills, she allowed – before lawmakers depart for the August recess.
“I think it’s important that we vote on the bill before we leave for August,” she said.
She also offered one specific example of an issue the group might still be deliberating. “We say, for instance, we want to get the children back to their home countries, and we want to do that as quickly as we can. Now how do you do that? And under what circumstances? If you do it as quickly as you can, how do you keep the safeguards in it. That’s where we are right now,” she said.
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