Sen. John Thune insisted Sunday that Republicans will not allow disagreements over funding for President Obama’s executive action on immigration to lead to a shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security.
As part of the spending agreement reached by Congress last month, funding for the department must be re-authorized in February, at which point Republicans hope to undercut the president’s executive action.
But, if past government funding crises are prologue, Republicans might face intraparty squabbles over the extent to which the department should be funded.
Any such debates, Thune assured “Fox News Sunday” host Chris Wallace on Sunday, will not jeopardize funding for the department at large, however.
“We’re not going to shut the government down,” the South Dakotan said. “Including that.
“We recognize it’s important that we fund the government,” Thune added. “Now that we are in the majority, we have the responsibility to do that.”
Still, Thune indicated Republicans will indeed look to roll back some of the president’s executive action on immigration.
“We’re also going to use the power of the purse, which is what the Constitution gives the Congress, as a mechanism by which to challenge the president on issues we think he overstepped the authority,” Thune said. “What he did on immigration is clearly an example. …That needs to be challenged.”
Thune and other Republican leaders in the Senate have often failed to rein in some lawmakers within their conference, such as Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, who have used debates over must-pass funding legislation to take ideological stands — and jeopardized government funding in the process.
Wallace asked Thune how Senate Republicans would handle Cruz during discussions over DHS spending next month, but Thune did not directly address that question.
