The Senate will hold a procedural vote this afternoon on whether to advance the anti-immigrant bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security, but no one expects it to garner the 60 votes necessary to advance,
reports Sahil Kapur.
Democratic leaders believe they have the 41 votes needed to block the bill from proceeding to debate, a senior Senate Democratic aide said Monday.
"We're not expecting to give the Republicans cloture on the House DHS bill," the aide said. "For the Senate to take up a bill that has absolutely no chance of being signed into law because it's littered with extreme, objectionable riders — that's a waste of time.”
For now, both sides are doubling down on their positions. President Obama and Senate Democrats have been making the push for a “clean” funding bill that has no riders attempting to undo the president’s executive orders on immigration. Speaking at DHS Monday,
Obama told Republicans, “Don’t jeopardize our national security.” Today, Senate Democrats appeared alongside Homeland Security Sec. Jeh Johnson as a show of solidarity for a clean bill.
Politico reports that even some Republicans want to strip out the anti-immigrant provisions.
“We just need to rip the Band-Aid off,” said one Republican senator, saying the Senate should strip out all the immigration language and pass a “clean” DHS funding bill. “I think the House guys rolled a grenade in the room,” a second GOP senator said later.
But McConnell isn’t having it, nor is he foreshadowing a plan B.
Asked what Republicans would do if and when the legislation hits a wall, McConnell spokesman Don Stewart said, "Let's see if Dems actually filibuster funding for the Department of Homeland Security first.”
Funding for DHS runs out Feb. 27.
4:36 PM PT: UPDATE: Republicans failed to advance the DHS funding bill by a vote of 51-48.