House Republicans ditching Washington

A lot of House Republicans are heading out of Washington as their lame duck session drags on — and their absences from Congress could be a big barrier to President Donald Trump’s proposed border wall.

Republicans lost 40 seats and control of the House in last month’s election, the party’s worst battering since the Watergate scandal-inspired election of 1974. Democrats will take control of the chamber Jan. 3, making these final weeks of the 2018 session Republicans’ last best chance for at least two years to provide big money for the wall.

Yet 23 Republicans were absent Thursday morning when the House met for votes on unrelated legislation— including Florida Rep. Carlos Curbelo, California Rep. Jeff Denham, Missouri Reps. Vicky Hartzler and Ann Wagner and Kansas Rep. Lynn Jenkins. Hartzler was absent because her father died.

Nine Republicans were absent the previous day when the House passed the farm bill.

Curbelo, who lost his re-election bid in the face of anti-Trump backlash, said on Twitter Wednesday that he won’t vote for any legislation that provides significant funding for new barriers along the border if it is not paired with provisions to protect young people enrolled in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. That sort of deal is unlikely this year.

Denham, who also lost his re-election campaign, has also said that he would be reluctant to vote for a border wall without DACA protections.

Republican leaders in the House had weighed bringing the bill with $5 billion to the floor this week, but scrapped that idea after dozens of lawmakers left Washington following the passage of the farm bill Wednesday night, according to a senior GOP aide.

https://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/congress/article223058345.html