WASHINGTON: The US House of Representatives passed a bill Friday to fund the child migrant crisis on the southwest US border hours after President Barack Obama vowed to act alone to tackle the problem.
The measure, passed by a vote of 223 to 189 in the Republican-dominated chamber, would provide $694 million to deal with the influx.
But it falls far short of $3.7 billion Obama had requested to ease what he has called an "urgent humanitarian situation" and is unlikely to become law.
Since October, more than 57,000 unaccompanied minors have been apprehended crossing the US-Mexico border, about three-quarters of them from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras -- Central American countries where youths are fleeing poverty and gang violence.
"The president must take the lead on this by mitigating this crisis, turning back the tide of illegal immigrants, and fully enforcing our laws," said House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers.
"In the meantime, however, this bill will help our law enforcement personnel and federal agencies deal with this dire situation in the short term," noting it would not result in new or additional federal spending.
The House action came just hours after Obama said he would seek to redeploy existing resources to tackle the child migrant crisis on the US border after congressional inaction.
"I'm going to have to act alone, because we don't have enough resources," Obama said. "We've run out of money."
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