Congress remains at a standstill on funding the Department of Homeland Security beyond Feb. 27, with Senate Democrats unwilling to consider the House-passed bill and House Republicans unwilling to rethink their legislation–for now.
Though House leadership has publicly stood firm on its bill–which funds the Department of Homeland Security at levels agreed to by both Democrats and Republicans in the House and Senate late last year, but also contains several policy riders that would prevent the president from carrying out the execution action on immigration he announced in November–they have privately acknowledged they may need to change course.
House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) are still opposed to bringing a new bill to the House floor but also understand the possible outcomes if they don’t–primarily, a DHS shutdown of undetermined length–according to a congressional staffer familiar with the talks. House leadership understands the challenges of dealing with Senate procedure, which they blame Democrats for blocking, but trying to negotiate an alternative plan within the Republican caucus with just two weeks to go will prove challenging due to “internal politics,” the staffer said.
Congress is out for the whole week of President’s Day, leaving just a handful of work days to avoid a shutdown. The staffer said there would likely be discussions during the recess to create a Plan B, but publicly House leadership is still standing firm and calling on Senate Democrats to consider their bill.
Scalise said on Wednesday at a weekly press conference that the Senate needed to step up and do its job.
“There are some people saying, well how are we going to get the Department of Homeland Security funded? The way to do it is for the Senate to do the job that the House already did. It’s time for the Senate to take up the House-passed bill and send it either back to the House if there’s something they don’t like about it and they want to make changes, or send it to the president’s desk,” he said. “But there are a number of senators who are voting against bringing this bill up to fund the Department of Homeland Security who months ago made statements in support of the House bill–they actually said the president doesn’t have authority to do what they do. And now they’re voting against the bill to fund the department. It’s time for those senators to put their money where their mouth is, to actually vote to take the bill up, and if there’s something they don’t like about it, the legislative process actually allows them to put an amendment at the desk and go and fight to make that change. That’s how this legislative process works. So we passed a bill to fund the department of Homeland Security, it’s sitting over in the Senate and now it’s time for the Senate to do their job.”
But Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Tuesday at another weekly press conference that the Senate was “stuck.”
“We’ve had a week on it. We’ve had 3 cloture votes, all of which have not succeeded. It’s clear we can’t get on the bill, we can’t offer amendments to the bill, and I think it would be pretty safe to say we’re stuck because of Democratic obstruction on the Senate side,” McConnell told reporters. “I think it’s clear we can’t go forward in the Senate unless you all have heard something I haven’t, so the next move obviously is up to the House.”
House and Senate Democrats have presented a fairly unanimous message, saying they would agree to the bill’s funding levels and send the legislation to the president as quickly as possible if the policy riders were taken out. Several senators introduced a clean funding bill last week, and on Wednesday Reps. Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-Calif.) and Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.), ranking members of the House Appropriations Committee homeland security subcommittee and full committee, respectively, introduced a clean funding bill in the House–with every single House Democrat signing on as a cosponsor, according to a statement from House Minority Whip Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.).
Of the cosponsors, House Armed Services Committee Ranking Member Adam Smith (D-Wash.) had harsh words for the Republican party, accusing them of endangering national security.
“Republicans continue to lose the immigration policy discussion and have now decided to hold funding for the Department of Homeland Security, a vital national security agency, hostage in an attempt to achieve their extreme immigration policy goals,” he said Friday. “As ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee, I understand the wide range of threats our country faces every day. There are individuals that plot and plan to attack us at home and abroad every single day, and the Department of Homeland Security plays a crucial role in providing for our security. Threatening to cut off funding for this important agency simply to undermine the President’s immigration policies is highly irresponsible.
“The unnecessary fight over funding for the Department of Homeland Security builds on the Republican’s legacy of governing through crisis,” Smith said. “Republicans now control both chambers of Congress, and with that power comes responsibility. It’s time to get back to regular order and fund the government like responsible elected leaders.”