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 Those concerns came amid signs that a Republican bill in the House
of Representatives and a Democratic measure in the Senate, both of
which were more modest than Obama's request, faced challenges.
The Democratic-controlled Senate has scheduled a procedural vote for
Wednesday on a $2.7 billion border funding bill. Senator John Cornyn
of Texas told reporters he did not know of any fellow Republicans
who will support it, indicating it likely will fall short of the 60
votes needed to advance in the 100-member Senate.
Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, who is influential with House
Republicans, called the House bill "disappointing," complaining it
failed to overturn Obama's 2012 decision to suspend deportations for
some undocumented residents who were brought into the United States
illegally by their parents.
In even stronger language, Republican Senator Jeff Sessions of
Alabama said the House bill was "unworthy of support" and
represented a "surrender to a lawless president."
 With no compromise in sight, it appeared that Congress could embark
on a five-week summer recess on Friday without signing off on any
additional funds for the border crisis.
The Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency is on pace to run out
of money in mid-August, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection in
mid-September, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson has said.
If extra funding is not provided, the government will have to
transfer money from other agencies to deal with the crisis at the
border, where 57,000 children traveling alone have tried to enter
the United States from Central America this year.
The transfer of funds is known as "reprogramming" and can be carried
out by the Obama administration without legislation.
Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Tom Carper, a Delaware
Democrat, was "deeply concerned" that forcing the Department of
Homeland Security to move money around will affect other critical
operations, according to a Democratic committee aide.
Border security will be hurt because the department probably would
need to reduce aerial support for the Border Patrol and put off
buying technology needed at border points, according to Democratic
and Republican congressional aides.
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"We also understand that it would hinder some of the very functions
critics of the supplemental (funding) seem to support: expedited
detentions and deportations of undocumented migrants," the
Democratic aide said on condition of anonymity.
House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Michael McCaul, a Texas
Republican, said he understood that reprogramming would take money
from the Coast Guard and cybersecurity, "and so I am very disturbed
at the administration's reprogramming approach."
McCaul said he was meeting with Johnson on the issue later on
Tuesday. He said House Republicans want him to take money out of
Federal Emergency Management Agency operations instead of border
security.
The House bill would provide $659 million through the end of the
fiscal year, Sept. 30, which is also sharply lower than the $2.7
billion the Senate wants.
But a bigger sticking point will be House Republicans' proposed
changes to a 2008 human trafficking law to allow quicker deportation
of children from Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador, something the
Democratic-controlled Senate is unlikely to agree to.
(Additional reporting by David Lawder and Emily Stephenson; Editing
by Jonathan Oatis and Mohammad Zargham)
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