VOL. 42 | NO. 25 | Friday, June 22, 2018
ELECTION 2018
Despite having some of the best health care companies in world, the people who live and work in Tennessee are not healthy.
In the months leading up to the primary elections in August, the Ledger is running an “Election 2018: Issues and Answers” feature, produced by the Tennessee Press Association, as part of an effort to educate readers and voters about key issues facing Tennessee and what candidates for governor and U.S. Senate have to say about them. This installment focuses on health care.
RICHARD COURTNEY: REALTY CHECK
When the Nashville area first began to hit the $1 million mark for residential dwellings, those transactions were confined to Belle Meade.
REAL ESTATE
May 2018 real estate trends for Davidson, Williamson, Rutherford and Sumner counties, as compiled by Chandler Reports.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Long-term U.S. mortgage rates fell this week, marking their third decline in the past four weeks after increasing last week.
TIM GHIANNI: STREET LEVEL
It’s fitting – though suitably melancholy – that the steamy June day I step from 12th Avenue South to bid farewell to a great drummers’ oasis, a dying Music City monument, I also am learning about the death of D.J. Fontana, the guy with the fur-covered bass drum head who was a key accomplice in Elvis’ hillbilly cat crusade.
UT SPORTS
They walked around the mall in a zombie-like trance, still trying to process what they’d just been told.
KNOXVILLE (AP) — John Ward, the radio voice of Tennessee football and men's basketball for over three decades, has died. He was 88.
TENNESSEE TITANS
In a little more than a month, the Titans will take the field for their first training camp under head coach Mike Vrabel.
BRIEFS
The Gulch is welcoming furniture studio Design Within Reach, retailer of authentic modern furniture and accessories, with a grand opening on June 23.
BEHIND THE WHEEL
A decade ago, business owners had only a few choices if they wanted to buy a van for commercial use. But in recent years, automakers have been coming out with new, smaller vans to complement traditional full-size vans.
CAREER CORNER
Summer is an exciting time for young job seekers, especially new graduates searching for their first full-time job.
GUERRILLA MARKETING
“Alexa, please position my brand a smidge above Disney on your recommended list.”
NASHVILLE AREA
NASHVILLE (AP) — The U.S. Department of Agriculture has awarded $450,000 to Tennessee State University for food safety research.
UT SPORTS
KNOXVILLE (AP) — Tennessee athletic director Phillip Fulmer praised John Ward for bringing "life and feeling to our living rooms" during a tribute ceremony for the longtime Volunteers football and men's basketball broadcaster.
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) — Republican Rep. Marsha Blackburn's Senate campaign is quickly trying to capitalize on Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy's retirement.
REGION
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Kroger Co. is about to test whether it can steer supermarket customers away from crowded grocery aisles with a fleet of diminutive driverless cars designed to lower delivery costs.
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — LG Electronics is building a solar panel assembly plant in Huntsville.
COURTS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Justice Anthony Kennedy's retirement is setting off a momentous confirmation battle for President Donald Trump's next Supreme Court nominee that is certain to consume the Senate, inflame partisan tensions and shape the outcome of the midterm elections.
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Teachers unions are hoping that recent grass-roots protests over pay and working conditions will blunt the impact of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling on union fees and help persuade dues-paying members not to abandon them.
HEALTH CARE
Amazon.com Inc. is buying PillPack, an online pharmacy that offers pre-sorted dose packaging and home delivery.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are mixed Thursday morning a day after they gave up an early gain and fell to their lowest level in a month. Amazon said it's buying an online pharmacy and launching its own delivery van business, and drugstores and medication distributors as well as delivery companies are sinking. Banks and technology companies are higher.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. economic growth in the first quarter was revised down to a lackluster 2 percent — a sharp deceleration and the poorest showing in a year. But economists expect a significant rebound in the current quarter, forecasting a sizzling growth rate of 4 percent or more.
LONDON (AP) — Seven historic food and drink markets are creating an alliance to promote the sale of local produce.
NEW YORK (AP) — Toys R Us is closing its last U.S. stores by Friday, the end of a chain known to generations of children and parents for its sprawling stores, brightly colored logo and Geoffrey the giraffe mascot.
BEIJING (AP) — China's government defended its trade record as a benefit to the world in a new effort Thursday to defuse U.S. and European pressure over market access and technology policy.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump de-escalated a confrontation with China on Wednesday, dropping plans to impose strict limits on Chinese investment in U.S. technology companies and instead urging Congress to strengthen existing laws that apply to all foreign countries.
SEATTLE (AP) — Your Amazon packages, which usually show up in a UPS truck, an unmarked vehicle or in the hands of a mail carrier, may soon be delivered from an Amazon van.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump's meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Finland next month comes after what will likely be a tense gathering with NATO allies and follows Trump's repeated calls to improve relations with Russia.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate is assessing President Donald Trump's choice to head the IRS: Charles Rettig, a Beverly Hills tax lawyer who would face the colossal challenge of overseeing the most sweeping overhaul of the U.S. tax code in three decades.
WASHINGTON (AP) — An FBI agent who worked on separate investigations into Democrat Hillary Clinton and President Donald Trump's campaign defended himself behind closed doors for more than 11 hours Wednesday as House GOP lawmakers stepped up efforts to highlight what they say is bias at the Justice Department.
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 27
STATEWIDE
CLARKSVILLE (AP) — U.S. Senate candidate Phil Bredesen said Tuesday he would push to get the Tennessee Valley Authority to help expand broadband internet access to rural areas if elected.
MEMPHIS (AP) — Federal prosecutors in Tennessee say eight people in the U.S. and Africa have been arrested on charges that they stole millions from people and businesses around the world though computer and wire fraud.
NASHVILLE AREA
NASHVILLE (AP) — The Nashville Predators and local government officials are breaking ground this week on a new ice center in the Bellevue neighborhood.
MIDSTATE
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — The maker of Jack Daniel's whiskey says it's dropping its long-running sponsorship of Alaska's 1,000-mile (1,610 kilometer) race.
REAL ESTATE
WASHINGTON (AP) — Fewer Americans signed contracts to purchase homes in May, as sales are being stifled by a shortage of properties on the market.
COURTS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy announced his retirement Wednesday, giving President Donald Trump a golden chance to cement conservative control of the nation's highest court.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump's list of candidates for the Supreme Court, posted on White House website last November:
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that government workers can't be forced to contribute to labor unions that represent them in collective bargaining, dealing a serious financial blow to organized labor.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A jury has found that Dr. Dre, music mogul Jimmy Iovine and their headphone company Beats Electronics owe a former partner $25.2 million in royalties.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court returns to the bench one last time Wednesday with two cases left to decide and then a summer break from the news — unless, that is, a justice chooses that moment to announce his retirement.
ENVIRONMENT
HELENA, Mont. (AP) — BP-owned Atlantic Richfield Co. must pay nearly $29 million for the cleanup of arsenic that is threatening a Montana town's groundwater, an amount that includes $1 million for misleading environmental regulators and letting another company take the blame, a federal judge ruled.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Environmental Protection Agency head Scott Pruitt is proposing surrendering some of his agency's veto power over waste discharges near waterways by mining and development.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Global stock markets pirouetted again on Wednesday as investors chased after mixed signals on global trade tensions, and the S&P 500 erased an early-morning jump to drop to its lowest closing level in nearly a month.
NEW YORK (AP) — The Walt Disney Co. on Wednesday won U.S. antitrust approval for its $71.3 billion bid for Twenty-First Century Fox's entertainment assets.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump warned Harley-Davidson on Wednesday "we won't forget" about the company's decision to shift some motorcycle production overseas, and suggested that the Wisconsin-based company will lose out to its competitors.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Orders for long-lasting U.S. factory goods declined for the second straight month in May, as demand for cars, metal products and aircraft fell.
BRUSSELS (AP) — European Council President Donald Tusk says the European Union must prepare for the worst due to the policies of U.S. President Donald Trump, as a trade war looms between Washington and Brussels.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump de-escalated a confrontation with China on Wednesday, dropping plans to impose strict limits on Chinese investment in U.S. technology companies and instead urging Congress to strengthen existing laws that apply to all foreign countries.
MOSCOW (AP) — Russia's prime minister is calling for tariffs on U.S. imports in response to duties that Washington has placed on foreign steel and aluminum.
CHICAGO (AP) — Conagra is buying Pinnacle Foods Inc. in a cash-and-stock deal valued at about $10.9 billion that will help the food company expand in the frozen food and snacks categories.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Republican-led House resoundingly rejected a far-ranging immigration bill on Wednesday despite an eleventh-hour endorsement by President Donald Trump, as the gulf between the GOP's moderate and conservative wings proved too deep for leaders to avert an election-year display of division.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A judge in California has ordered U.S. border authorities to reunite separated families within 30 days.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department says a judge's order to reunite families separated at the border "makes it even more imperative" that Congress pass immigration legislation that would enable it "to simultaneously enforce the law and keep families together."
NEW YORK (AP) — As Donald Trump's party came together, a 28-year-old liberal activist ousted top House Democrat Joe Crowley in the president's hometown Tuesday night, a stunning defeat that suddenly forced Democrats to confront their own internal divisions.
TUESDAY, JUNE 26
STATE GOVERNMENT
NASHVILLE (AP) — The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation has sworn in its new director.
STATEWIDE
KNOXVILLE (AP) — The former president of the nation's largest diesel fuel retailer has apologized for the language he used in secret recordings.
MEMPHIS (AP) — U.S. Senate candidate Phil Bredesen said Monday that tariffs on steel and aluminum being imposed by President Donald Trump's administration are "pure presidential politics" but will hurt key Tennessee industries such as agriculture and auto production.
MIDSTATE
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — The price of Jack Daniel's Tennessee Whiskey will increase in the European Union because of the impact of the bloc's new 25 percent tariff.
REAL ESTATE
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. home prices rose in April from a year earlier, lifted by bidding wars in many cities where would-be buyers fought over a sparse supply of homes.
HEALTH CARE
One of the world's most dreaded viruses has been turned into a treatment to fight deadly brain tumors. Survival was better than expected for patients in a small study who were given genetically modified poliovirus, which helped their bodies attack the cancer, doctors report.
TECHNOLOGY
CHICAGO (AP) — Ayrial Miller is clearly annoyed. Her mother is sitting with her on the couch in their Chicago apartment, scrolling through the teen's contacts on social media.
COURTS
WASHINGTON (AP) — A sharply divided Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld President Donald Trump's ban on travel from several mostly Muslim countries, rejecting a challenge that it discriminated against Muslims or exceeded his authority. A dissenting justice said the outcome was a historic mistake.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court effectively put an end Tuesday to a California law that forces anti-abortion crisis pregnancy centers to provide information about abortion.
SHANGHAI (AP) — Three China Labor Watch activists arrested last year while investigating abuses at Chinese suppliers for Ivanka Trump's fashion brand were released from bail Tuesday, the New York non-profit group said, but questions remain about their ability to live and work freely in China.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A U.S. judge who held a hearing about climate change that received widespread attention ruled Monday that Congress and the president were best suited to address the contribution of fossil fuels to global warming, throwing out lawsuits that sought to hold big oil companies liable for the Earth's changing environment.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks bobbed higher Tuesday as technology and consumer-focused companies regained a sliver of their losses from the day before. Oil prices and energy companies jumped as the U.S. pressed its allies to stop importing oil from Iran.
WASHINGTON (AP) — American consumers lost a bit of their optimism in June but are still feeling good by historical standards.
WASHINGTON (AP) — House Speaker Paul Ryan is criticizing Trump administration trade policy after Harley-Davidson cited retaliatory tariffs as why it's shifting some production of motorcycles overseas.
BRUSSELS (AP) — The EU's top trade official says the U.S. knew it would face consequences if it put tariffs on European steel and aluminum imports, as motorcycle manufacturer Harley-Davidson prepares to move some factories outside the U.S.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump sought Tuesday to avoid blame for Harley-Davidson's decision to move some motorcycle production overseas and threatened to tax the manufacturer "like never before!" as punishment for the planned production shift.
NEW YORK (AP) — General Electric Co. is shrinking again, becoming a mere shadow of the globe-spanning conglomerate that it was before the Great Recession.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Struggling to find the votes to pass an immigration overhaul, House Republicans are focusing on a slimmed-down bill to stem the crisis of separating immigrant families at the border.
NEW YORK (AP) — The children at the center of the national debate over President Donald Trump's immigration policy have been heard about but rarely seen.
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — President Donald Trump is not on the ballot, but he has invested time, energy and political capital in a slate of primary contests across America that will again test his clout within his own party.
MONDAY, JUNE 25
SPORTS
MURFREESBORO (AP) — Former Chattanooga athletic director David Blackburn is joining Middle Tennessee's staff as senior associate athletic director for external affairs.
HEALTH CARE
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. health regulators on Monday approved the first prescription drug made from marijuana, a milestone that could spur more research into a drug that remains illegal under federal law, despite growing legalization for recreational and medical use.
COURTS
NASHVILLE (AP) — Advocates for domestic violence victims are praising a new Tennessee law that seeks to stop a common tactic that batterers use after their victims have fled to safety: Filing frivolous lawsuits designed to bankrupt or inflict more harm on the people they already have abused.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court passed up new opportunities Monday to take on two hot topics - partisan gerrymandering and balancing LGBT and religious rights - and also left rulings about the Trump travel ban and other big cases for coming days as it began the final week of its term.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is upholding Texas' use of electoral districts that a lower court struck down as racially discriminatory.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is choosing not to take on a new case on partisan redistricting for now. Instead, the justices are sending a dispute over North Carolina's heavily Republican congressional districting map back to a lower court for more work.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court handed American Express a win Monday in a lawsuit over rules it imposes on merchants who accept its cards.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is ordering Washington courts to take a new look at the case of a florist who refused to provide services for the wedding of two men because of her religious objection to same-sex marriage.
REAL ESTATE
WASHINGTON (AP) — Sales of new U.S. homes jumped 6.7 percent in May, with purchases in the South accounting for all of the monthly gains.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks skidded Monday as investors grew concerned that technology companies could be pulled into the broadening trade dispute between the U.S. and China. Indexes in Europe and Asia also fell.
NEW YORK (AP) — Flush with savings from lower tax bills and profits from a growing economy, big U.S. companies are spending a record amount buying back their own stock.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Trump administration officials are denying reports that the United States is readying limitations this week on Chinese investment in American technology companies and high-tech exports to China. But the White House itself earlier announced plans to unveil the restrictions by Saturday.
BEIJING (AP) — China and the European Union agreed Monday to launch a group that will work to update global trade rules to address technology policy, subsidies and other emerging irritants and preserve support for international trade amid U.S. threats of import controls.
MILWAUKEE (AP) — Production of Harley-Davidson motorcycles sold in Europe will move from U.S. factories to facilities overseas, the Milwaukee-based company announced Monday, a consequence of the retaliatory tariffs the EU is imposing on American exports in an escalating trade war with the Trump administration.
BAYTOWN, Texas (AP) — Joel Johnson is fighting an uphill battle to keep his pipe factory in this refinery suburb east of Houston from becoming a casualty in President Donald Trump's bitter trade dispute with America's allies and adversaries.
GAINESVILLE, Ga. (AP) — With Gary Ramey's fledgling gun-making business taking off in retail stores, he decided to start offering one of his handguns for sale on his website.
CAMARILLO, Calif. (AP) — The average price of a regular gallon of gasoline fell 6 cents over the past two weeks, to $2.95.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Top House Republicans are discussing legislation aimed at curbing the separation of migrant families at the border, GOP aides said Monday. The election-year response to public uproar over the Trump administration policy comes as a broader immigration package heads toward likely House defeat this week.
WASHINGTON (AP) — America has waited a year to hear what special counsel Robert Mueller concludes about the 2016 election, meddling by the Russians and — most of all — what Donald Trump did or didn't do. But how much the nation will learn about Mueller's findings is very much an open question.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican apprehension over President Donald Trump's next tweet and fear of riling conservative voters are undermining GOP leaders' election-year struggle to shove an immigration bill through the House this week, leaving prospects dubious.
FRIDAY, JUNE 22
STATE GOVERNMENT
NASHVILLE (AP) — Officials say a second person has been placed on paid leave amid an investigation into allegations that Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Acting Director Jason Locke misused state funds.
REGION
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Much of the rye whiskey aging in hundreds of barrels at Catoctin Creek Distillery in Virginia could end up being consumed in Europe, a market the 9-year-old distilling company has cultivated at considerable cost.
STATEWIDE
KNOXVILLE (AP) — Knoxville Mayor Madeline Rogero announced the appointment of Eve Thomas as the new chief of the Knoxville Police Department on Thursday. Thomas succeeds Chief David Rausch, who was selected to become director of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee officials are praising a U.S. Supreme Court decision that lets states force online shoppers to pay sales tax.
NASHVILLE (AP) — U.S. Rep. Diane Black has landed the endorsement of the National Rifle Association in a crowded Republican primary field for Tennessee governor.
HENDERSONVILLE (AP) — The leading Republican candidates for Tennessee governor tried not to second-guess President Donald Trump during a debate Wednesday night, including pledging support for his administration's "zero tolerance" immigration policy.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is lobbing new threats against U.S. trade partners.
STATE GOVERNMENT
NASHVILLE (AP) — The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation's interim leader said Thursday that he will retire amid an investigation into allegations that he misused state funds.
REGION
NASHVILLE (AP) — Senators from Tennessee are opposing part of President Donald Trump's reorganization plan that revisits possibly selling the transmission assets of the nation's largest public utility.
HEALTH CARE
WASHINGTON (AP) — The House has overwhelmingly approved legislation designed to give health care providers more tools to stem an opioid crisis that is killing more than 115 people in the United States daily.
COURTS
NEW YORK (AP) — Attention shoppers: You may soon be paying more taxes on what you put in your online cart.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is siding with a financial adviser known for his "Buckets of Money" retirement strategy who challenged the appointment of the administrative law judge who ruled against him in a fraud case.
TECHNOLOGY
NEW YORK (AP) — AT&T is launching a new streaming service incorporating television networks from the Time Warner company it just bought.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are closing higher Friday as oil prices and energy companies rallied. OPEC said it will produce more oil, but not as much as investors feared.
VIENNA (AP) — The countries of the OPEC cartel agreed on Friday to pump 1 million barrels more crude oil per day, a move that should help contain the recent rise in global energy prices.
BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union started enforcing tariffs Friday on American imports like bourbon, peanut butter and orange juice, part of a growing global trade rift that's likely to intensify over the next few weeks.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is threatening to slap a 20 percent tariff on cars from the European Union.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — In comments at odds with his home state's whiskey distillers, Kentucky's Republican governor is downplaying fears that the European Union's retaliatory tariffs could disrupt the booming market for the Bluegrass state's iconic bourbon industry.
ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece's prime minister pledged Friday to stick to agreed reforms and budget targets after international creditors announced debt relief measures to wean the country off its eight-year bailout program, which ends in two months.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States attacked first, imposing tariffs on steel and aluminum from around the globe and threatening to hit tens of billions of dollars in Chinese products.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Reserve says that all of the 35 largest U.S. banks are fortified enough to survive an economic shock and keep on lending. Banks' losses from credit cards increased in the latest "stress tests," however.
Mail-order weed? You betcha! With nationwide marijuana legalization in Canada on the horizon, the industry is shaping up differently there than the way it was established in nine U.S. states that have similarly broad legalization. Age limits, government involvement in distribution and sales, and access to banking are some big discrepancies.
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — European Union Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom said Thursday that the grouping has targeted some iconic American imports like Harley-Davidson motorcycles and bourbon for tariffs in hopes that it will "make noise" and put pressure on U.S. leaders amid a trade dispute.
BEIJING (AP) — China on Thursday accused the United States of using bullying tactics and blackmail in threatening to impose tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars of Chinese imports, ramping up criticism that the measures levied in the name of balancing trade would harm both countries' companies and the world economy.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Friday told his fellow Republicans in Congress to "stop wasting their time" on immigration legislation until after the November elections. GOP leaders said they'd press on anyway, but his comments further damaged their attempt to win over wavering lawmakers for a measure already facing likely defeat.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon will make space available on military bases for as many as 20,000 unaccompanied migrant children detained after illegally crossing the U.S.-Mexico border, a spokesman said Thursday.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Virginia's governor ordered state officials Thursday to investigate abuse claims by children at an immigration detention facility who said they were beaten while handcuffed and locked up for long periods in solitary confinement, left nude and shivering in concrete cells.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Republican-led House has narrowly passed a sweeping farm bill that would toughen work requirements for food stamp recipients.
WASHINGTON (AP) — First lady Melania Trump wore a jacket that read "I really don't care, do u?" as she boarded a flight Thursday to a facility housing migrant children separated from their parents.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The House killed a hard-right immigration bill Thursday, and Republican leaders delayed a planned vote on a compromise GOP package with the party's lawmakers fiercely divided over an issue that has long confounded them.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is trumpeting results of his summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un that get ahead of reality.
WASHINGTON (AP) — As Donald Trump presses ahead with plans for a summer summit with Russia's Vladimir Putin, the U.S. president is jolting relationships with some of America's longest and strongest allies. Amid concerns over Trump's apparent desire to be cozy with the Russian leader, he is pursuing increasingly nationalistic foreign and trade policies and delivering scathing personal attacks on traditionally friendly leaders who don't share his views.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration proposed a major reorganization of the federal government on Thursday, calling for merging the education and labor departments, moving the federal food stamp program to the Department of Health and Human Services and renaming that agency. The plan represented the latest aspiration of a presidential administration to revamp a sprawling federal government.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Hours before House showdown votes on immigration, President Donald Trump suggested Thursday that any measure the chamber passes would be doomed in the Senate anyway. His comments could weaken Republicans' already uphill drive to pass legislation on an issue that's become politically fraught amid heart-rending images of migrant families being separated at the border.