Wow. Some Republicans in the House are actually showing some sense after Speaker John Boehner bowed to the most extreme elements of his party on the bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security. Here's
Seung Min Kim and Jake Sherman:
A Republican amendment that could leave hundreds of thousands of young immigrants open to deportations is running into stiff opposition in the House – a rare show of rank-and-file rebellion over the leadership’s catering to the right…
“It’s disappointing to see an overreach,” [California Rep. Jeff] Denham said of his own party.
The measure GOP moderates take the greatest issue with was authored by Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and would roll back the president's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program providing deportation relief to Dreamers.
The problem is, if the worst amendments to the bill don't pass, the GOP crazies who want to deport 11 million immigrants immediately might not vote for a cleaner version of the bill, which would put DHS funding in peril (funding runs out on Feb. 27). On the other hand, if the Blackburn amendment does pass (which is most likely), how many GOP moderates will defect on the final funding vote? Either way, it's a headache for Boehner.
The main thing here is that this vote will be a test of unity for Boehner's caucus. The bill faces stiff hurdles to passing the Senate. Essentially, Boehner's just trying to appease the worst elements of his caucus by giving them an anti-immigrant vote at Sen. Mitch McConnell's expense. Boehner's headache is likely to become McConnell's.
2:00 PM PT: Update: The GOP did succeed in passing the Blackburn amendment 218-209, with 26 moderate Republicans defecting on the vote. The overall bill to fund DHS ultimately passed the House 236 to 191, with the help of two Democrats.