The House will reportedly vote soon on legislation that would fund the Homeland Security Department for the rest of Fiscal 2015 without reversing President Obama’s immigration policies.
While this development angered some conservatives, House approval would presumably break the logjam over Homeland Security funding that should have been approved half a year ago.
The House will reportedly vote soon on legislation that would fund the Homeland Security Department for the rest of Fiscal 2015 without reversing President Obama’s immigration policies.
While this development angered some conservatives, House approval would presumably break the logjam over Homeland Security funding that should have been approved half a year ago.
In a meeting this morning with Republican lawmakers, House Speaker John Boehner reportedly indicated they had no better alternatives at this point for opposing the President’s immigration policies. In addition, some Republicans believe a lawsuit now in the courts may address their concerns.
Lawmakers late last year rolled most of their regular appropriations work into a single large bill, but they left Homeland Security on stopgap funding that had been set to expire last Friday. This left the agency unable to plan for the current fiscal year as effectively as it could have.
On Friday Congress avoided a partial shutdown of the department by approving a one-week stopgap measure, but only after the defeat of a three-week stopgap plan sought by the House leadership. Several dozen conservative Republicans joined with House Democrats in rejecting the three-week extension.
Also on Friday, the Senate approved a “clean” Homeland Security funding bill without the controversial immigration provisions. A separate bill with those provisions won 57 votes in the Senate, three short of what was required to move it forward.
