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Senate Dems block GOP effort to tie DHS funding to Obama immigration actions


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?intcmp=latestnewsFox News:

Senate Democrats blocked legislation Monday that would have rolled back President Obama's executive actions on immigration in exchange for funding the Department of Homeland Security through September.

 

But soon after the early evening vote -- the fourth Senate attempt to block Obama's controversial decision to grant work permits to millions of illegal immigrants -- Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., suggested separate legislation to combat Obama's executive actions.

 

"The new bill I described offers another option we can turn to. It's another way to get the Senate unstuck from a Democrat filibuster and move the debate forward," McConnell said on the Senate floor after a vote to advance the House-passed bill failed 47-46, short of the 60 votes needed. Three previous attempts earlier in the month had yielded similar results.

 

It was not clear whether McConnell's gambit would succeed ahead of Friday's midnight deadline to fund the department or see it shut down. It was far from certain whether it would win any Democratic support, and House conservatives remain firmly opposed to any funding bill for the Homeland Security Department that does not also overturn Obama's executive actions on immigration.

 

If no funding deal is reached by the deadline, the DHS could partially shut down, resulting in the furloughs of roughly 30,000 DHS employees. About 200,000 others would continue to work, but they would receive no pay until Congress authorizes funding.

 

It's a reality that was on display during the 16-day government-wide shutdown in the fall of 2013, when national parks and monuments closed but essential government functions kept running, albeit sometimes on reduced staff.

 

Earlier in the day, Obama again warned that failing to act before Friday increases the risk of a domestic terror act.

 

At a White House gathering of governors, Obama accused Congress of creating “self-inflicted” wounds and said failing to pass the funding bill within the next several days “will have a direct impact on America’s national security.” Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson appeared on all five Sunday talk shows to make a similar case.

 

The Tea Party Patriots group is suggesting that Senate Republicans are backing down because they fear Americans will blame them for a partial DHS shutdown.

 

“Senate Republicans are about to cave in to President Obama,” the group said Monday. “It’s time … to ratchet up the pressure on wobbly Senators.”

________

 

Wobblers.


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Issue is the Constitution, Not the Shutdown

Jonathan S. Tobin 02.26.2015 - 6:45 PM

With time running out to avoid defunding the Department of Homeland Security, almost all of the focus of news coverage of the story has been on the contentious battle between Republicans who are in favor and those opposed to a stand that will lead to a shutdown. There is good reason for this, especially as House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell desperately to try to maneuver to keep their previous promises to avoid another politically damaging government shutdown. But though it’s hard to take our eyes off of the spectacle of impending civil war among Republicans, the real author of this week’s drama doesn’t work on Capitol Hill. President Obama was in Miami last night for a televised infomercial on MSNBC in which he tried to take a victory lap for having started the fight that is causing the shutdown. But despite his efforts to place himself on what he thinks is the right side of history and the slavish applause of the liberal mainstream media for this stand, the real issue today remains Obama’s blatant disregard for the Constitution, not whether or not Boehner and McConnell can find a way out of the corner into which Obama has forced them. Scissors-32x32.pnghttps://www.commentarymagazine.com/2015/02/26/issue-is-the-constitution-not-the-dhs-shutdown-illegal-immigration-executive-order/

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February 28, 2015

House passes one week DHS funding extension

By Rick Moran

House Republicans, who shockingly voted down a 3 week extension of funding for the Department of Homeland Security earlier in the day, reluctantly passed a 7 day extension to keep the department running.

 

It's hard to see what's changed by this short term funding gambit. The Senate still won't consider a funding bill that contains language that would defund the president's immigration executive orders. And House conservatives won't vote for a funding bill that doesn't have those riders.

 

Boehner's failure to deliver his caucus on a 3 week funding bill advanced by the House leadership calls into question his ability to continue as speaker Scissors-32x32.png

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