US Senate passes bill to fund Homeland Security through Sept 30

US Senate passes bill to fund Homeland Security through Sept 30

CNBC with Reuters
30 Mins AgoCNBC.com

http://fm.cnbc.com/applications/cnbc...g?v=1425043113Joshua Roberts | Reuters
The U.S. Capitol building

Hours before funding expires for the Department of Homeland Security, the U.S. Senate on Friday approved nearly $40 billion to keep the agency operating through September and avoid a midnight shutdown.

The House of Representatives is expected to ignore the legislation because it does nothing to stop President Barack Obama's executive order, issued in November, that removed the threat of deportation for 4.7 million undocumented residents.

Instead, the House on Friday is attempting to pass a three-week extension of current funds for DHS, giving Republicans more time to pursue their fight to reverse Obama's immigration action, which has been temporarily put on hold by a federal judge.

This is a breaking news story. Please check back for updates.


Funding for the U.S. department overseeing the country's border's had been in the air in recent weeks. The newly-minted Republican Congress have sought to reverse President Barack Obama's executive order sparing millions of illegal immigrants of deportation.

Harry Reid, the Senate minority leader, said Wednesday his party, the Democratic Party, would support the funding bill.

Nevertheless, the bill's future in the House of Representatives remains in the air, as House Speaker John Boehner did not specify what his recommendations would be if the bill clears the Senate vote. "I'm waiting for the Senate to act," Boehner said in a meeting.

Without the bill, the Homeland Security Department would be forced to shut down approximately 90 percent of its operations, as workers who are considered essential would remain without pay until the matter is resolved.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/102462671

Congress prepares to punt amid impasse on DHS funding

Published February 27, 2015 FoxNews.com

http://a57.foxnews.com/global.fncsta....jpg?ve=1&tl=1

NOW PLAYINGFocus on immigration in battle over DHS funding

Congress, facing an imminent partial shutdown of the Homeland Security Department, was preparing Friday to do what it does best: punt.

At an impasse over a long-term funding bill, a plan was swiftly emerging for lawmakers to approve a time-buying, three-week stopgap. House Republicans put the idea on the table late Thursday and are hoping to muscle it through the chamber and send it over to the Senate by the end of the day -- just making the midnight deadline to keep the money flowing to DHS.

That plan could still go sour, as many House Democrats are opposed to another short-term bridge. But if House Speaker John Boehner can push it through, largely on Republican votes, sources say the Senate would likely approve it.

"It's the best solution that we have available to us right now," said Rep. Steve Womack, R-Ark. "Nobody wants to shut down the Department of Homeland Security."

Left unresolved, however, is how Congress would fund DHS through the rest of the year and whether Republicans have any path to extract their central demand -- reversing President Obama's controversial immigration executive actions.

Originally, Republicans wanted to require those actions be reversed as a condition for funding DHS. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has already abandoned that effort, meeting Democrats' demands to deal with the two issues separately.

But many House Republicans still want to fight, and use the DHS budget as leverage to extract the immigration concession.

As Congress moves to pass a stopgap, the Senate on Friday approved a longer-term DHS funding bill. However, House Republicans plan to reject the bill and call for a so-called conference committee -- a way for lawmakers to hammer out a compromise measure.

But Senate Democrats have called this a "non-starter," and they could have the leverage to block it. Meanwhile, Senate Democrats on Friday also blocked a separate bill undoing Obama's immigration actions.

The complicated debate underscored the lingering divisions among the Republican caucus over how far to take their fight against Obama's immigration plan, which gives millions of illegal immigrants work permits and a deportation reprieve.

Some argue that with a federal judge, for now, blocking the plan from going forward, there's less urgency to use legislation to achieve the same goal. Other conservative Republicans say the legislation is necessary.

"I am not going to vote under any circumstances to fund illegal conduct," said Rep. Mo Brooks, R-Ala. "It does not make any difference whether the funding is for three weeks, three months or a full fiscal year. If it's illegal, it's illegal."

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015...cmp=latestnews

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/cong...rm-fix-n314026

Senate Passes DHS Funding Bill as House Plans Short-Term Fix

Congress is moving to pass a three-week stopgap funding bill to prevent a Department of Homeland Security shutdown for now, but lawmakers remain at odds about how to solve a long-standing impasse over immigration and the agency's budget in the long term.
The Senate on Friday morning easily passed a "clean" year-long DHS funding measure that does not include controversial riders to curb President Barack Obama's immigration executive actions. The vote was 68-31.

But that "clean" bill is a non-starter in the House. GOP leaders there, facing the ire of conservatives who say they won't accept a bill that doesn't tackle the immigration issue, are instead floating a three-week extension of DHS funding that would give both sides more time to negotiate.

The House easily passed a key procedural motion to begin debate on the short-term bill Friday morning.

A House Democratic leadership aide said that there's "little to no support" for the short-term plan among Democratic members, saying that the minority party does not plan to "bail Speaker Boehner out" and offer sufficient votes to get the measure across the finish line.

That means that House Speaker John Boehner will have to pass the short-term funding bill with mostly Republican support, a task that could be unpredictable because of some conservatives' anger about the plan.

But House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi acknowledged at a press conference that Republicans "probably have the votes" to pass the stopgap.

Without either a short-term or long-term bill to fund the agency, the department will run out of funds at midnight on Friday.

That would force a slowdown of the agency's crucial operations, DHS chief Jeh Johnson says. Although about 80 percent of the agency's workers would still be required to come to work, they would not be paid until Congress acts.

On Friday morning, the Senate also voted on a separate measure to move forward on a bill to roll back the president's executive actions. The motion, which needed 60 votes to pass, failed 57-42. Four Democrats voted for it.

- Carrie Dann, Alex Moe and Frank Thorp

The US Senate just threw US to the wolves. Lets hope the People's House, the US House of Representatives, holds the line, stands their ground and runs the wolves away.

http://www.alipac.us/f9/all-eyes-hou...-looms-317892/

http://www.alipac.us/f9/stopgap-dhs-...-house-317896/