If you're waiting for a GOP plan to fund Homeland Security, go back to bed for a few days (at least).
House Republicans have no plan yet, other than to wait for the Senate to vote on going to conference committee to negotiate with the House on a funding bill (conferencing would allow House Republicans a chance at adding the anti-immigrant riders back into the "clean" funding bill the Senate passed last week). The Senate is expected to reject that option this afternoon, which will send the funding issue right back to John Boehner and his lieutenants.
But here's the problem, Beohner and all of his men are mere shadows of their former selves after their miserable fail last week, as Josh Bresnahan and Jake Sherman point out.
The battle over immigration policy — Republicans have tried to use DHS funding as leverage to stop Obama’s immigration directives — has turned into one of the defining struggles of the 65-year-old Boehner’s speakership. People close to Boehner are beginning to wonder whether he will survive, although the Ohio Republican — like he always does — downplays such speculation.
Boehner’s top lieutenants are also under the gun. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) hasn’t delivered on his promise to end crisis-fueled legislating. And House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.), who was chosen for the post for his ability to corral conservatives, suffered a stunning defeat as well, losing more than 50 GOP votes on the floor in what was one of the most embarrassing losses of the Republican majority.
Just to drive this point home, if you're the majority whip, it's your job to make sure that any bill your speaker puts on the floor doesn't suffer an embarrassing defeat. The 3-week funding bill that
Boehner put to vote last Friday
drew 52 defections from Republicans. That is nothing short of a spectacular failure.
Oh, and about that promise from McCarthy, he's busy putting pressure on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to take the "nuclear" option of changing Senate rules so Democrats can't filibuster. In other words, McCarthy doesn't have the muscle to get his caucus in line to fund Homeland Security, so he's praying for a lifeline from McConnell.
That's the state of the House leadership: imperiled, humiliated, and running for cover. It ain't pretty.