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On Tuesday, President Obama submitted a request to Congress, formally asking for $3.7 billion in emergency funding to deal with the escalating crisis on the U.S. southern border.

The request by the president is to deal with the influx of thousands of Central American children who have flooded the U.S. southern border swamping border patrol and other immigration agencies.

In a letter to House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, President Obama stated, “This funding would support a sustained border security surge through enhanced domestic enforcement, including air surveillance; expenses related to the repatriation and reintegration of migrants; associated transportation costs; additional immigration judge teams, immigration prosecutors, and immigration litigation attorneys to ensure cases are processed fairly and as quickly as possible; funding to address the root causes of migration; public diplomacy and international information programs; the operational costs of responding to the significant rise in apprehensions of unaccompanied children and adults traveling with children; and expenses associated with the appropriate care for those apprehended, consistent with Federal law, and the necessary medical response.”

It is doubtful that this request by the president will be approved any time soon considering the highly charged partisan political environment in Washington.

Both Republicans and President Obama do not like each other or can even work together to solve this issue or for that matter any of the many issues facing this country.

Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said in a statement, “The president “is asking to use billions of taxpayer dollars without accountability or a plan in place to actually stop the border crisis.”

Even Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) said, “No, given the mood here in Washington, I don’t have confidence it will happen.”

The president did not help the situation when last week speaking in the White House Rose Garden, chastised Republicans on immigration and for not passing comprehensive Immigration Reform.

The president stated he will pursue executive action by the end of summer to “fix as much of our immigration system as we can. If Congress will not do their job, at least we can do ours.”

Obama continued, “Our country and our economy would be stronger today if House Republicans had allowed a simple yes-or-no vote on this bill or, for that matter, any bill,” Obama said, raising his voice. “Instead they’ve proven again and again that they’re unwilling to stand up to the tea party in order to do what’s best for the country. And the worst part about it is, a bunch of them know better.”

The president seems to forget the promise he made in 2008, “I cannot guarantee that it is going to be in the first 100 days. But what I can guarantee is that we will have in the first year an immigration bill that I strongly support and that I’m promoting. And I want to move that forward as quickly as possible.”

On Wednesday and Thursday President Obama had originally scheduled to be in Texas to attend two campaign fundraisers for Democratic candidates, but now has set up a hastily schedule meeting with Texas Republican Governor Rick Perry, and other officials to discuss the border crisis.

CBS News reported, Mr. Obama so far is ignoring growing calls from both Democrats and Republicans to make his first trip to the border since May 2011.

“To his credit, President Obama has come to Texas in the past years to help us mourn tragedies such as Fort Hood,” Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said Tuesday, “which makes it all the more inexplicable why he would refuse to carve out just one hour out of his fundraising schedule in Texas over the next two days to come to the border at the sight of what he calls a humanitarian crisis.”

Democrats are now calling on President Obama to be more engaged in this crisis, with   Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, stating  said on Fox News Monday that Mr. Obama could be facing his own “Katrina moment” if he refuses to visit the border facilities housing Central American children.

“I’m sure that President Bush thought the same thing, that he could just look at everything from up in the sky,” he said.

CBS News continued with the frustration by two other Democrats who represent districts on the Texas border, Reps. Ruben Hinojosa and Filemon Vela, penned a letter to the president urging him to go to the border to see the situation first hand.

“To fully comprehend what is happening in our region, one must see this firsthand because one will certainly be impacted by the humanitarian side of this issue,” Hinojosa said in a statement. “We know the President is committed to helping all that he can and has already taken aggressive steps. Now we would like for him to see what the needs are for the refugees, our federal agents and our volunteers. More work needs to be done.”

The crisis continues and will only get worse if nothing is done.  Like so many other issues partisanship grips Washington especially in the months leading up to the November mid-term elections.

This crisis will continue until both parties show leadership.