It’s been three weeks since House Republicans passed their anti-immigrant bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security. In another three weeks, the department's funding will expire. But there’s still no solution in sight, report
Manu Raju and Jake Sherman.
House Republicans are incensed that Senate Republicans won’t pass their crazy bill.
“People are counting on them to deliver,” an angry Rep. Michael Burgess (R-Texas) said of the Senate. “We sent them a bill, and they need to pass it. They need to pass our bill.”
Harrumph!
With a hint of sarcasm, Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) shot back: “To pass a bill over here, it takes 60 votes. Unless we can figure out some way of multiplying, it seems to me that we have an issue that is very difficult to deal with.”
I hesitate to side with a Republican, but Mr. Corker has a point.
The Senate has failed to get the 60 votes necessary to advance the House bill three times already this week and another Senate vote on the bill may be in the offing. Senate Republicans are clinging to the hope that if they prove incontrovertibly that the House bill can’t pass the Upper Chamber, House Republicans will come to their senses. It's a pipe dream.
House Republican leadership says it’s in a bind and doubts that more than a few dozen of their lawmakers would vote for a clean bill. They say the Senate must include some language to chip away at Obama’s immigration policies for a bill to clear the House — but Senate leaders are in a quandary because they can’t change the bill if Democrats block the floor debate from even occurring.
“This is very frustrating, because this is a good bill,” said Rep. John Carter (R-Texas), who chairs the subcommittee that writes DHS’ budget. “It really does some things we really need.” He added: “Politically, [McConnell] needs to make a lot of noise. Because the constituency is very upset about” Obama’s changes to immigration policy.
Wah. Hey Rep. Carter, if it does some important things, send the Senate a bill they can pass. That's the way this whole governing thing works.
Thus far, no Republican has floated a deal they think will fly. Not McConnell, certainly not Boehner. So how about a short-term funding bill that would allow Republicans to continue their hamster-wheel search for comity while continuing to pay the 280,000 workers at DHS?
McConnell’s chief deputy, Texas Sen. John Cornyn, threw cold water Wednesday on passing a short-term funding bill if no agreement is reached — even though several top House Republicans privately suggest that could be the only solution.
Except for the one GOP Sen. Susan Collins is offering. Head below the fold for details.
The only person offering an alternative that might be gaining traction is Sen. Susan Collins of Maine. She wants to nix the House language undoing the 2012 program for Dreamers but embrace the language that rolls back President Obama’s 2014 deportation relief for parents of legal residents and U.S. citizens. In other words, she’s doesn’t want to target children brought to the U.S. as minors but she’s fine with deporting their parents and even those parents raising American kids.
If they weaken the House bill, some Republicans hope they can stop squabbling amongst themselves and start arguing with Democrats.
A senior Republican aide said removing the language reversing the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program would make it harder for Democrats to oppose the bill.
Collins’s amendment, however, will not receive a vote if Democrats continue to block the start of debate.