House Democratic leaders are telling their rank and file to vote against a three-week spending measure that would keep the Homeland Security Department funded after a Friday deadline.
In what has evolved into a game of partisan brinkmanship, Democrats say they will approve nothing short of a seven-month funding bill, which would last until the end of the fiscal year. But the tactic could be a risky political move. Republicans are offering a “clean” bill to keep the department running and Democrats could end up shouldering the blame for a partial closure if they vote against the measure and it doesn’t pass.
“The House Democratic leadership is whipping against this bill,” an aide told the Washington Examiner, “If House Republicans want to end up with another manufactured crisis that risks our national security in a matter of days they can do it with 218 votes of their own.”
House Republicans plan on introducing a measure Friday that would fund the department for another three weeks. They’ll take up the bill hours before the department runs out of money when a stopgap measure expires.
A temporary funding bill would buy the GOP time to force House and Senate lawmakers to compromise on a larger deal now up for debate in the Senate.
Senate Republicans who control the gavel in the upper chamber, will take up a measure tomorrow that will fund the department through the end of the year, stripping out language that would have curbed President Obama’s recent immigration executive actions. The GOP plan includes an amendment that would block Obama from implementing a November executive action that provides millions of illegal immigrants with access to work permits and federal benefits. But that amendment is all but guaranteed to fail thanks to Democratic opposition.
House Republicans hope to go to a conference with the Senate to incorporate some restrictions on Obama’s immigration actions.
But Democrats will resist that move, too,
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., told reporters Thursday he’ll block any effort to change the legislation from a clean measure that funds the department through Sept. 30.
Reid oversaw changes to the Senate rules in 2013 that make it easier and faster for the House and Senate to go to conference on a bill, but Democrats can still filibuster because 60 votes are required and Republicans control only 54 seats.
Without Democratic support in the House, Republicans could run into trouble passing a short-term bill. Many conservative Republicans have said they would vote against it, preferring instead to go toe-to-toe with Democrats and President Obama about insisting on support for a bill that curbs the immigration directives.
Republicans could afford to lose about 27 GOP votes and still pass the measure.
