President Obama said that he’s “going to have to act alone” on the border crisis.
“I’m going to have to act alone because we don’t have enough resources,” Obama told reporters during a Friday press conference. “In the end, the challenge I have right now is that they are not able to act even on what they say their priorities are.”
Obama faulted House Republicans for not yet passing a border bill — the bill is expected to pass this evening after a dramatic last minute negotiation — that he described as something they initially supported.
The conceit of his response to a question about whether he is blameless for the political gridlock is that Democrats refused to support changing a 2008 human trafficking law that Obama’s team initially said needed modification. As a result, Senate Democrats refused to back a border bill including such a change, which House Republicans said was essential.
“When it comes to the humanitarian crisis on our southern border, President Obama has been completely AWOL – in fact, he has made matter worse by flip-flopping on the 2008 law that fueled the crisis,” Michael Steel, a spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner (R., Ohio), said in response to Obama’s remarks. “Senate Democrats have left town without acting on his request for a border supplemental. Right now, House Republicans are the only ones still working to address this crisis.”