--- title: As Time Runs Out, Congress Is Gridlocked on Immigration Reform description: Republicans in the Senate stymied the bill that would have allotted $2.7 billion to resolving the issue of young illegal immigrants canonical: https://time.com/3069047/as-time-runs-out-congress-is-gridlocked-on-immigration-reform/ author: Nash Jenkins article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-08-01T08:27:27.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:06:26.472Z article:section: Politics og:title: As Time Runs Out, Congress Is Gridlocked on Immigration Reform og:description: Republicans in the Senate stymied the bill that would have allotted $2.7 billion to resolving the issue of young illegal immigrants og:url: https://time.com/3069047/as-time-runs-out-congress-is-gridlocked-on-immigration-reform/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltda1c8ffed282e04b/69869e11e8524b6ccb60422c/aptopix-congress_wong.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4886 og:image:height: 2748 og:image:alt: John Boehner og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: As Time Runs Out, Congress Is Gridlocked on Immigration Reform twitter:description: Republicans in the Senate stymied the bill that would have allotted $2.7 billion to resolving the issue of young illegal immigrants twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltda1c8ffed282e04b/69869e11e8524b6ccb60422c/aptopix-congress_wong.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # As Time Runs Out, Congress Is Gridlocked on Immigration Reform > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME D.C. Brief: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition D.C. Brief is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. Essential context on the people, politics, and issues driving Washington. D.C. Brief goes beyond the Washington headlines to explain the politics, personalities and power dynamics shaping what happens next. Senior correspondent Philip Elliott brings sharp context to the issues driving the capital, connecting the decisions made in Washington to the institutions, industries and people they affect. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ## Video: The Immigration Crisis [Watch (HLS stream): The Immigration Crisis](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/ba7H8axK.m3u8) (2:06)  _Published 2014-07-26. White House and Congress struggle to address border crisis_ by [Nash Jenkins](https://time.com/author/p-nash-jenkins/) ## Nash Jenkins Aug 1, 2014 8:27 AM UTC  House Speaker John Boehner, center, walks to the House chamber on Capitol Hill on July 31, 2014 House Speaker John Boehner, center, walks to the House chamber on Capitol Hill on July 31, 2014 J. Scott Applewhite—AP by [Nash Jenkins](https://time.com/author/p-nash-jenkins/) ## Nash Jenkins Aug 1, 2014 8:27 AM UTC On Thursday, Republicans in the Senate stymied the bill that would have allotted $2.7 billion to [resolving the issue of Central American minors](http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2014/07/senate-republicans-block-2-7-billion-border-funding-bill/) illegally crossing the border into the U.S., which many politicians have deemed a national crisis. The bill received 50 yeas and 44 nays, falling short of the 60 it needed in order to end up on President Barack Obama’s desk. In July, Obama had asked legislators for a comprehensive emergency plan dedicated to resolving the immigration issue. Republicans, [according to a CNN report](http://www.cnn.com/2014/07/31/politics/congress-immigration/index.html), took issue with the legislation’s dearth of provisions concerning the deportation of illegal immigrants. A bloc of far-right Congressmen within the party also [managed to successfully suspend the vote](http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/house-gop-leaders-spike-border-bill-rather-than-see-it-defeated/2014/07/31/1b720ff2-18e0-11e4-9e3b-7f2f110c6265%5Fstory.html) on a bill in the House of Representatives intended to facilitate the deportation process, deeming the legislation too moderate. The squabbling has [forced the House](http://www.politico.com/story/2014/07/house-gop-no-vote-border-bill-109599.html?ml=tb) to delay its August recess by one day. Not all was gridlocked in Congress, though. The Senate voted almost unanimously in favor of a bill that will [provide the Department of Veterans Affairs](http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/senate-passes-va-transportation-bills-on-eve-of-summer-recess/2014/07/31/9c656a50-1908-11e4-9349-84d4a85be981%5Fstory.html) with over $16 billion to address some issues concerning health care services for veterans, including reduction of delays and the hiring of more doctors. ## Transcript Even with thousand of migrant children's still in limbo after floating to the US from central America. The white house and congress are hardly borderly on a solution. This is a problem of the president's own making. House speaker John Bonher said, democrats wont get $ 3. 7 billion in emergency funding for the border crisis unless republicans can tweak a loop hole in the law that offers young unaccompanied minors and entailment have special legal status. We've got a president that's AWOL and the president outta get engaged in this if he actually wants something to happen. A new CNN ORC poll finds the public clambering for change. With 74 percent saying it's extremely or very important for the US to deal with illegal immigration. A ten point jump over last year. We must pass the President's request, a, a supplemental bill, Central American leaders are in Washington asking for help. An untold number of their children are being abused on their long journey North, as the President of Honduras told CNN's Christiane Amanpour [ FOREIGN ] Young girls, 13- year old, the coyotes are human smugglers, give them birth control pills, because most of them are going to sexually abused. Texas government Rick Perry is calling for the national guard to be deployed on the border. I will not stand idly by while our citizens are under assault, and little children from Central America are detained in squalor. We are too good a country for that to occur. The Whitehouse first dubbed Perry's request symbolic, noting apprehensions of unaccompanied minors are down by half since last month. It seems to me that a much more powerful symbol would be the bipartisan passage of legislation that would actually make a historic investment in border security and send a additional 20, 000 personnel to the border. Now it turns out the Obama Administration has its own team on the ground on the border assessing whether a national guard deployment might be a good idea after all. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3069047/as-time-runs-out-congress-is-gridlocked-on-immigration-reform/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3069047/as-time-runs-out-congress-is-gridlocked-on-immigration-reform/"},"headline":"As Time Runs Out, Congress Is Gridlocked on Immigration Reform","datePublished":"2014-08-01T08:27:27.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T08:06:26.472Z","description":"The House of Representatives has consequently had to delay its recess by a day","url":"https://time.com/3069047/as-time-runs-out-congress-is-gridlocked-on-immigration-reform/","keywords":["Congress","republicans","Veterans","Immigration","gridlock","ted cruz"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltda1c8ffed282e04b/69869e11e8524b6ccb60422c/aptopix-congress_wong.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Nash Jenkins","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/p-nash-jenkins/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltda1c8ffed282e04b/69869e11e8524b6ccb60422c/aptopix-congress_wong.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"John Boehner","caption":"John Boehner","creditText":"J. 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