CONGRESS TAKING CARE OF ESSENTIALS?

Well, the House of Representatives finally roused itself from its torpor and passed a bill (H.R. 5230) dealing with the illegal immigrant children and the border crisis (but the Senate had already disbanded for the month).  I won't go into details but you can read the whole thing at: https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/113/hr5230/text.  I had trouble Googling the bill number so you might like to know it.

All news reports on the bill mention it makes it easier to deport the illegal children, but none give any details so far as I know.  The relevant part of the bill in this regard starts at Section 101.  I have rooted out the following paragraph:       (B)

in clause (i), by inserting before the semicolon at the end the following: , which shall include a hearing before an immigration judge not later than 14 days after being screened under paragraph (4) and the unaccompanied alien child shall be detained until such hearing.  

In view of the 10s of thousands of illegal children, I wonder if we have enough judges to do this job in 14 days.   But this may be taken care of in the following item:     102.

Last in, first out

In any removal proceedings under section 240 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1229a) with respect to an unaccompanied alien child (as defined in section 462(g)(2) of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 279(g)(2))), priority shall be accorded to the alien who has most recently arrived in the United States.

Whether this increase is enough judges to handle the situation, I have no idea.  The bill retains and even adds language against placing children with known sex traffickers and drug offenders.  Presumable this bill has no hope of passing the Senate when it returns.

But when congress is really concerned about a problem, there is no such delays.  For example, a bill to make medical care quicker for veterans was passed by both houses.  The Senate bill was S. 2450 and the House bill was H.R. 3230.  It was presented to the President for signature on August 1, 2014. (https://beta.congress.gov/bill/113th-congress/senate-bill/2450/related-bills)