Trump was asked about the failure and said his message to House Republicans is: 'I want them to do what they want.'
'I told them a few hours ago,I said look pass something, or come back to something that would be a variation, but get something you want,' he added 'The problem with that is that we need Democratic votes in the Senate and that's why I don't get overly excited with the House bill right now because it's not going to pass in the Senate, you're not going to get the Democrats to vote for anything. We can give them 100 percent of what they wanted, and double it, they still wouldn't pass it.'
He also argued the immigration issue would be 'a great election point' for Republicans.
'I think strong borders and no crime, that's us...and I think that's going to be a great election point for us,' he said.
The bill's defeat is a telling rebuff of the leaders of a divided Republican Party, who are attempting to balance the demands of moderates and conservatives on the issue.
The result, however, was not unexpected. A number of conservative Republicans said they would not vote for it as they believe it offered too easy a path to citizenship for illegals.
The compromise bill would have provided nearly $25 billion in funding for Trump's border wall, limited legal and illegal immigration, provided protection from deportation and a path to citizenship for recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, and reversed Trump's 'zero tolerance' policy, which has resulted in migrant children being separated from the families.
It was supposed to have been voted on last week but that scheduled vote was postponed twice as Republican leaders tried to sweeten the bill enough to get their party to pass it.
Their eleventh-hour provisions included one that would make it easier for migrant farmworkers to stay longer in the country and another that would gradually require companies to use an electronic database to verify their employees' U.S. citizenship.
They failed.
But they have a Plan B, which is passing more narrow legislation by week's ending the 'zero tolerance' policy that has separated migrant families. Congress is on a July 4th recess next week.
