Cornyn urges Senate border action

The No. 2 Republican in the Senate is putting pressure on Democrats to move on legislation to address the crisis on the border.

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) on Sunday called for Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) to take the House’s lead and move on a bipartisan bill to speed up the process of sending unaccompanied minors back home.

{mosads}“Sen. Reid has said he still opposes our proposed solution,” Cornyn said on ABC’s “This Week.”

“My view is a solution beats no solution any day,” he added. “Nobody has offered an alternative so I hope we will act.”

This week, the House is expected to take up the bill that Cornyn crafted with Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) to amend a 2008 law that allows for longer screening times for immigrant children from countries other than Mexico or Canada, which has been at the center of the border crisis.

The bill would allow unaccompanied Central American children at the border to go quickly before a judge, who would then have 72 hours to decide whether they could stay in the country.

Reid has opposed the bill, which he has called “too broad” and says won’t solve the problem at the border.

Instead, he has supported President Obama’s request for $3.7 billion for border funding and said Obama has all the power he needs to deal with the crisis.

Cuellar on ABC disagreed, and said the country needed both a change in law and more money.

“We need the resources and we also need a policy change,” he said.

That could spell trouble for the bill. With just one week to go before Congress skips down for a month-long August recess, time is running out for Congress to act quickly.