President Barack Obama will not wait any longer for House Republicans to pass an immigration bill, after Speaker John A. Boehner told him he will not allow a vote this year, the president said Monday.

“Last week he informed me that Republicans will continue to block immigration reform at least for the remainder of this year,” Obama said Monday in a Rose Garden statement where he announced he would go it alone on immigration, “without Congress,” as far as he can.

Obama said he believes Boehner when he says he wants to pass an immigration bill, but he hasn’t been able to pass anything despite a year and a half of trying.

Boehner told reporters he would wait for House Appropriations Committee Chairman Harold Rogers and a House border security working group to make recommendations on the request but emphasized that he wanted strong steps taken to secure the border and enforce immigration laws.

"If we don't secure the border, nothing's going to change," Boehner said. "And if you look at the president's request it's all more about continuing to deal with the problem. We've got to do something about sealing the border and ending this problem so that we can move on with the bigger questions in the immigration debate."

Boehner’s calculation was, in part, political, according to one House Republican aide. The Speaker was looking to mollify the Tea Party faction of his caucus who were upset with him about a range of issues, including the federal budget and immigration reform.

“There is a whole combination of factors here,” this aide said. “You have the email. But remember Boehner has also gotten a lot of resistance from House Republicans on immigration. He wanted to turn the page on this.” This aide said that Boehner’s view was that, “OK, I am giving you guys this committee, now it’s on you to make this work.”

If this committee, however, does not find that smoking gun, then it will also prove the low-key warnings of lawmakers like Rogers and McKeon to have been correct all along. No wonder top Republicans were so reluctant to have it move forward.

Drew Hammill, spokesman for Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, released a statement charging, “These transcripts prove that Republicans’ Select Committee to Exploit the Benghazi Tragedy is nothing more than a circus to inflame the most extreme and conspiracy-obsessed elements of their party while raising campaign funds off the deaths of four Americans.

“The investigation by the Armed Services Committee clearly left no stone unturned, but House Republicans are planning to waste millions of additional taxpayer dollars on long-disproved conspiracy theories in the Select Committee. Republicans’ bankrupt priorities are on full display in this farce: they are now wasting more taxpayer funds per day than we spend on either the Veterans Affairs Committee or the Intelligence Committee.”

For conservatives, all roads seem to lead to Benghazi, but they have encountered a few distractions along the way.

Earlier in June, Texas Gov. Rick Perry ® suggested that President Obama ignited a new controversy by negotiating for the release of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl in order to detract from the real VA scandal.

This tactic is not new for the right. Conservatives constantly cry "distraction" when the media covers an issue unrelated to their scandal du jour.

Since October, more than 52,000 children — most from Central America and many of them unaccompanied by adults — have been taken into custody. That's nearly double last year's total and 10 times the number from 2009.

President Obama has called on Congress to supply nearly $4 billion simply to deal with the problem. In the meantime, U.S. officials are doing what they can to discourage Central Americans from sending their children in the false belief they will readily be admitted to live with relatives. (snip)

The request carefully sidesteps addressing questions of current immigration law. For that reason, debate may be limited to dealing with the immediate crisis, rather than how and whether to change policies.

The Senate Appropriations Committee will hold a hearing on the matter on Thursday. House leaders did not signal immediate approval or disapproval, but Kentucky Republican Rep. Hal Rogers, who chairs the House Appropriations Committee, told Politico, "Plainly, the situation for many of these unaccompanied children is extremely dire, and the United States has both a security and a moral obligation to help solve the crisis at hand."

You know, everybody knows that our current immigration system is broken. Across the political spectrum, people understand this. We've known it for years.