McConnell Caves, But Reid Wants Full Surrender From Boehner As Well
by Jonathan Strong and Caroline May
24 Feb 2015
5468 comments
Republican leadership in the Senate is fully caving to the demands of Democratic lawmakers calling for a so-called “clean” Department of Homeland Security funding bill that leaves President Obama’s executive amnesty intact, but Democrats are still balking at the plan.
“I’ve indicated to the Democratic leader that I’d be happy to have his cooperation to advance consideration of a clean DHS bill, which would carry us through September 30,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) told reporters Tuesday. “With Democratic cooperation on a position they have been advocating for the last two months, we could have that vote very quickly.”
“This is a total victory for the Obama position,” said a GOP senator unhappy with McConnell’s plan. “The House hasn’t passed it yet, so they might could come up with something. But that’s a grim prospect.”
But Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid balked at the offer, saying Democrats would continue to filibuster the bill until House Speaker John Boehner indicated he was willing to also pass it through the House.
“The problem is everybody, I’m waiting to hear from the Speaker. We have to make sure people understand the bicameral nature of this Congress that we serve in. So to have Sen. McConnell just pass the ball over to the House isn’t going to do the trick. I’m waiting to hear from the Speaker,” Reid said.
According to Reid, until he hears from Boehner, the issue remains “where we were.”
“We’re willing to debate anything they want dealing with immigration, after we fund homeland security,” Reid said.
In conjunction with the clean funding bill, McConnell said the Senate would also vote on stand-alone legislation block the Obama’s most recent executive amnesty, announced in November, which would provide legal status and work permits to nearly 5 million illegal immigrants and is currently under a court-issued injunction.
“My hope is that the Senate will act. I don’t know what the House will do but I do think we have a responsibility to act here. We have a solution to the problem that deals with both things: number one giving senators an opportunity to express their disapproval of what the president did in November and some Democrats — as you know — have already announced they agree with me on that,” McConnell said, adding that the second aspect, funding DHS with a clean bill, is exactly what Democrats have requested.
“I don’t know what’s not to like about this,” he added.
The move toward a clean DHS funding bill comes after weeks of a Democratic filibuster of an initial House-passed DHS funding bill that would block all of Obama’s executive amnesties. It also occurs following a federal judge’s ruling temporarily blocking Obama’s November executive amnesty.
Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-TX) pointed to the recent court order as an aspect of consolation.
“The most important point I think we need to acknowledge is that with this federal court injunction in place, any money that the United States Congress appropriates for the Department of Homeland Security will not go to fund the president’s illegal executive action because it’s barred by a federal court inunction and subject to a contempt of court finding,” Cornyn said, arguing that this week the Senate must ensure DHS is funded.
Reid stressed the importance of funding the department.
“We need to protect our homeland. We have people being beheaded. People being stacked in cages, one of them has been burned in a cage,” he added. “We have the direct threat to our malls around America and we have to be as prepared for these bad people, as ISIS is prepared and these other terrorist groups to do harm to us. ”
Democrats echoed Reid’s sentiment that the matter is now up to Boehner.
“So now all eyes are on Speaker Boehner,” Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) told reporters. “Will he fully fund homeland security in a separate bill sent it to the president for a signature and then both houses can debate immigration — as long as the majority in each house wants to — or is he going to go back to his old way and say ‘I’ll do this, that, or the other thing but I won’t fund homeland security?’”
http://www.breitbart.com/big-governm...ehner-as-well/
Democrats: We’ll Block DHS Funds Until Boehner Surrenders
6:47 PM 02/24/2015
Neil Munro
Top Democrats said Feb. 23 they will hold the homeland security budget hostage until the GOP’s House caucus agrees to quit its popular anti-amnesty efforts.
“If we are going to avoid a government shutdown on the Department of Homeland Security, we need a commitment from Speaker Boehner that we have a bipartisan, bicameral approval to end this deadlock,” Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin told reporters during a Tuesday press conference in the Senate.
Durbin spoke shortly after the Senate’s GOP Majority Leader Mitch McConnell appeared to submit to the Democrats’ demands that the DHS 2015 budget not curb spending on the president’s November amnesty.
Democrats have filibustered the House-passed DHS budget bill four times just to block the anti-amnesty language.
McConnell agreed Feb. 22 to allow separate votes on a toothless DHS budget bill, and a bill that would curb Obama’s amnesty plans.
That’s a complete victory for the Democrats, because McConnell’s plan would allow them to kill the anti-amnesty bill, while also approving the separated DHS funding bill.
But McConnell’s surrender isn’t enough for Democrats.
They also want Boehner to give up the anti-amnesty fight even though almost 90 percent of the GOP base opposes the amnesty.
“All eyes are on Speaker Boehner,” Sen. Chuck Schumer said during the press conference.
“Will he fully fund Homeland Security in a separate bill, send it the president for signature?… or is he going to go back to his old ways and say ‘I’ll do this, that or the other thing, but I won’t fully fund homeland security.’”
In fact, Boehner’s DHS bill that is being blocked by Schumer and the Democrats fully funds the DHS budget.
“I’m waiting to hear from the Speaker,” said Sen. Harry Reid, the Democrats’ minority leaders in the Senate. “We have to make sure that people understand the bicameral nature of this conversation, so that Sen. McConnell just passing the ball over to the House isn’t going to do the trick.”
“[Boehner] has indicated to me through his staff that he’ll be in touch sometime soon and until that time comes, we are where we were,” Reid said.
Obama’s Nov. 20 amnesty would provide work-permits and tax rebates to roughly 5 million illegal immigrants.
Obama is pushing the amnesty with support from all Democratic senators, even though middle-class Americans are facing stalled wages, declining workplace participation and a growing wealth gap between wage-earners and the investors who gain from the cheap labor and government-aided customers provided by Obama’s high-immigration policies.
Since 2009, Obama has added roughly 9 million working-age immigrants to the workforce, where they will compete for jobs against the roughly 24 million young Americans who have entered the workforce.
On Feb. 23, Obama’s deputies announced they would provide work permits to roughly 180,000 additional guest workers over the next year.
In November 2014, one in every five U.S. jobs was held by a foreign-born worker, up from one-in-six jobs in January 2010, according to federal data highlighted by the Center for Immigration Studies.
Obama’s immigration polices are unpopular, especially among Republicans and people worried about the economy. Only 7 percent of Americans want a higher level of immigration.
The Daily Caller asked Reid if polls showed the amnesty is popular among Americans. “I don’t know what’s popular, but I know what’s the right thing to do,” he replied.
The GOP’s base is already pushing back against McConnell’s apparent surrender.
“As the Majority Leader said last year, the power of the purse is the ‘only tool’ Congress has to rein in executive overreach,” said Michael Needham, head of Heritage Action.
“Heritage Action will [penalize Senators who vote for a] DHS bill that would allow for the funding of the President’s unconstitutional amnesty,” he said.
Almost 90 percent of the GOP base opposes Obama’s amnesty plans.
So far, the GOP leaders have not mounted an election-style PR campaign to pressure Democratic senators to support the anti-amnesty bill. Many GOP donors favor the president’s high-immigration policies.
http://dailycaller.com/2015/02/24/de...er-surrenders/