The flood of unaccompanied child migrants crossing the Southwest border has slowed this month to about 150 a day, but a $3.7 billion border supplemental remains “critical,” White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said Monday.  

President Barack Obama will meet Monday with his homeland security council — Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson, Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell, and Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel — to discuss the border crisis, Earnest said.  

Earnest suggested White House efforts are starting to result in fewer child migrants — although at 150 a day, that’s still nearly 55,000 per year.  

Earnest said the supplemental spending request pending in Congress remains “critical” to addressing the crisis and preventing it from happening in the future.  

Obama is scheduled to meet Central American presidents on Friday in hopes of stemming the crisis. Last week, Speaker John A. Boehner, R-Ohio, indicated he was losing confidence that a supplemental spending bill would pass before the August recess.