House speaker tells Senate Democrats: act on security funds

[February 12, 2015]  By Susan Cornwell
 
 WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner blamed Senate Democrats on Wednesday for an impasse over legislation to fund the Department of Homeland Security, which secures U.S. borders and oversees counterterrorism efforts.

Using salty language, Boehner insisted the Senate must make the next move on the legislation, which Republicans in the House have written so that it also blocks President Barack Obama's actions on immigration.

"The House has done its job. Why don't you go ask the Senate Democrats when they are going to get off their ass and do something other than to vote 'no'?" Boehner said at a news conference after meeting with fellow House Republicans.

With the clock ticking toward a Feb. 27 deadline for funding the department, more than 40 Senate Democrats have voted three times this month to block consideration of the Homeland Security appropriations bill that has already been approved by the House.

The Democrats want to fund the department but oppose House amendments that strip funding from Obama's executive orders in 2012 and 2014 lifting the threat of deportation for millions of undocumented immigrants.

Republicans charge that Obama overreached with his 2014 executive order shielding undocumented parents of U.S. citizens from deportation, as well as the 2012 order aiding undocumented child immigrants.

The president has threatened to veto the House-passed measure, and Democrats are insisting on a "clean" funding bill with no immigration restrictions.

One moderate Senate Republican on Wednesday called for a such a clean Homeland Security bill, breaking with most in his party who are still insisting on blocking Obama's executive orders on immigration.

"I would think that we ought to strip the bill of extraneous issues and make it just about Homeland Security," Illinois Senator Mark Kirk told reporters in a Capitol corridor. "The American people are pretty alarmed, as they should be, about security."

Another moderate Republican, Senator Susan Collins of Maine, has proposed revisions that would only block Obama's November immigration order. But she said on Wednesday that she had not yet found any Democrats interested in her approach.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican, said on Tuesday the Senate was "stuck" and that the next move was up to the House. While insisting it was still the Senate's turn to act, Boehner indicated he was not angry with McConnell over the Senate paralysis.

Republicans control just 54 seats in the Senate, and 60 votes are needed to clear procedural hurdles.

(Reporting by Lisa Lambert and Susan Cornwell and David Lawder; Editing by Doina Chiacu and Jonathan Oatis)

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