Chairman: Obama won’t get $3.7 billion

President Obama’s request of $3.7 billion in emergency funding for the border is too high, the House chairman with purview over spending said Friday.

{mosads}”No, that’s too much,” Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers (R-Ky.) said when asked whether the House would pass the spending bill outlined by the administration.

Rogers did not offer specifics of what House Republicans would prefer to pass instead.

The House Appropriations Committee and the House GOP working group on border security are reviewing Obama’s request, and are expected to provide the House Republican Conference with an update next Tuesday.

“Hopefully we can give you a better answer next week,” Rogers told reporters outside the House chamber.

Rogers indicated that the House would likely act on the supplemental appropriations request before leaving for the month-long August recess.

“Oh, yeah,” Rogers said when asked whether the House would take action by then.

Rogers said that some of the funding requested by Obama could be handled through the regular appropriations process, in which Congress passes 12 individual bills to fund the federal government.

But, he said, “There are pieces that need to be dealt with immediately.”