The bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security passed the House Wednesday, 236 to 191. But no matter how many times Speaker John Boehner says, "This is not about immigration," it was indeed about immigration.
The GOP leadership stooped to the level of the most extreme elements of its caucus, using the DHS bill not only to try to defund Obama's executive actions from last year, but also to defund his 2012 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program for Dreamers. That amendment, authored by Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), narrowly passed 218 to 209 with some GOP moderates defecting on the vote.
Immigration advocates and Dreamers took the vote as a personal attack on them and their families, because Republicans left them no choice.
“As 2016 GOP presidential hopefuls throw their names in the hat, House Republicans are taking steps to make their party’s job of winning the White House more difficult by voting to put millions of immigrants back on the road to deportation,” said Christina Jimenez, managing director of United We Dream. "Do GOP leaders think that there won’t be a political price to pay for votes to deport millions of parents like mine?"
What a win for the Republican brand.
The bill now becomes Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's headache in the Senate, where it faces opposition from saner portions of the GOP. Funding for DHS is set to expire on Feb. 27.
2:16 PM PT: Update: Two Democrats voted with Republicans to pass this bill.