Thread: Republican Senators Fail In Second Vote To Defund Obama Immi

Immigration Reform 2015: Republican Senators Fail In Second Vote To Defund Obama Immigrant Plan

By Aaron Morrison @aaronlmorrison on February 04 2015 4:34 PM

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky leads the Republican-controlled Senate that failed on Tuesday to pass a bill defunding President Barack Obama's executive actions on immigration. Reuters/Joshua Roberts


U.S. Senate Republicans failed to block funding for President Barack Obama’s immigration plan for the second time in two days Wednesday in an ongoing battle over how to fund the Department of Homeland Security.

The 53-47 vote was a second attempt at undermining Obama’s executive actions that offers several million undocumented immigrants a reprieve from deportation, which agencies under Homeland Security are charged with carrying out. On Tuesday, Senate Democrats blocked a similar $39.7 billion funding bill.

In less than three weeks, the department will run out of money. Wednesday's vote pushes the White House and congressional Republicans closer to the negotiating table over a bill that funds the agency in charge of protecting U.S. residents from terrorist attacks, in addition to regulating immigration. Senate Republicans Wednesday accused their Democratic counterparts of deliberately endangering the American people by blocking the bill.

“The legislation Democrats are filibustering would fund the Department of Homeland Security,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said. “It would also protect American democracy from overreach described by President Obama as unwise and unfair. That’s it. You would think a bill like this would pass overwhelmingly.”

Democrats speaking on the Senate floor Wednesday afternoon said they would only consider a clean Homeland Security funding bill without the provisions attacking immigration. If Congress misses its Feb. 27 deadline, many in the department’s 240,000 person work force would have to work without pay.

Homeland Security is made up of 22 different federal departments and agencies that were streamlined to enhance immigration enforcement, defend against and respond to terrorist attacks, and manage the federal response to man-made and natural disasters. In a reorganization, DHS absorbed the functions of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency is also under DHS. Famously criticized for its response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005, FEMA absorbed the functions of four other disaster response offices.

http://www.ibtimes.com/immigration-r...igrant-1805776

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http://www.alipac.us/f12/why-shuttin...action-317310/

Senate to hold third vote on defunding Obama's amnesty at 11:30 a.m.