Lawmakers complain Obama too aloof with Congress
By ANDREW TAYLOR and DONNA CASSATA, Associated Press
Jul 26, 2014 12:04 PM CDT
U.S. President Barack Obama speaks to the media, while meeting with El Salvador's President Salvador Sanchez Ceren, Guatemala's President Otto Perez Molina, and Honduran President Juan Hernandez, to discuss Central American immigration and the border crisis in the Cabinet Room of the White House Friday,...   (Associated Press)

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama's request for billions of dollars to deal with migrant children streaming across the border set off Democrats and Republicans.

Lawmakers in both parties complained that the White House — six years in — still doesn't get it when it comes to working with Congress.

Top GOP leaders got no notice of the $3.7 billion emergency request. The administration sent contradictory messages about what it wanted to deal with the border crisis. And as the proposal drew fierce criticism, the White House made few overtures to lawmakers in either party to rally support.

House and Senate lawmakers in both parties plus several senior congressional aides said the handling of the proposal by Obama and the White House is emblematic of a rocky relationship with Congress.