The House majority whip on Sunday sidestepped questions about whether House Republicans would be willing to postpone Congress's August recess if no immigration deal is reached this week to deal with the surge of unaccompanied migrant children at the U.S.-Mexico border.
"We’re not even on recess," Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.) said on "Fox News Sunday." "We’re here right now, and we’re ready to work. We’re going to do our job this week. If the president wants to sit back and just continue to point fingers at other people, he’s the president of the United States. He could solve this problem today. He’s been AWOL on it."
Scalise suggested that the House may pass legislation this week to deal with the immigrant children, but he said the Senate and the White House will have to take action as well.
"At some point the president should sit down and say, 'Do we really want to solve this problem?'" Scalise said. "I want to solve this problem. I’m going to stay working until we get it done. The House is going to take leadership."
The Republican also said any legislation should focus on securing the border and reversing a 2008 anti-child-trafficking law that prevents the United States from quickly deporting unaccompanied immigrant children from certain Central American countries.
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