No wonder Li'l Luke Russert was shocked. One day after authorizing a lawsuit against President Obama for taking executive action, Speaker Boehner yanked the border crisis bill from the floor as House Republicans issued a statement calling for the President to act on his own.
House Republicans pulled Speaker John A. Boehner’s slimmed-down legislation to address the brewing immigration crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border rather than see it defeated, amid a conservative revolt that the $659 million proposal did not address the core issues.
Faced with certain defeat, Boehner (R-Ohio) pulled the legislation from consideration Thursday afternoon, according to guidance from leadership advisers. With more than 20 House conservatives opposed, Boehner did not have enough votes from his own Republican ranks because virtually all Democrats opposed the legislation.
[...]Despite the setback, Rogers sought to immediately deflect attention and political pressure back onto President Obama.
"I think this will put a lot more pressure on the president to act," Rogers said. "In many ways, it was his actions and inactions that caused the crisis on the border, and we attempted in this bill to help remedy this crisis. He has the authority and power to solve the problem forthwith."
Might be time to update the scorecard. On Monday, they were ready to govern, saying the border bill was a high priority. On Wednesday, they voted to sue the president. On Thursday, they pulled the one piece of legislation scheduled for a vote and tossed the ball over to the President so that he can do what they just voted to sue him for.
Or, as Li'l Luke reported, "The week the House GOP sued the president over his issue of executive actions, they are now encouraging on a statement to act by himself regarding the border. You really can't make that up."
This is what Republican governance looks like. Bail out, and toss the ball into the Democrat's court.
Update: Ted Cruz gets credit for this one.
Update 2: It looks like they're trying to salvage something from this. There may yet be a vote on something, but it's unclear what that will be.
Update 3: From Breitbart's Washington DC reporter, so consider the source.
Update 4: The planned House recess for five weeks has been delayed until tomorrow.
