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 The House of Representatives approved full fiscal-year funding for
the Department of Homeland Security, after attempts by conservative
Republicans to make funding contingent on blocking actions on
immigration last November by Democratic President Barack Obama in
which he bypassed Congress.
The final bill passed by the House in a 257-167 vote was a Senate
measure stripped of language attacking Obama's orders, which lifted
the threat of deportation for millions of undocumented residents.
The vote ended a fight that brought the DHS within hours of a
partial shutdown last week and raised new questions about Boehner's
leadership.
Obama said on Tuesday night he would sign the funding bill "as soon
as I receive it," and added in a statement: "Today, after far too
long, Congress finally voted to fully fund" the agency.
The department was formed after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks to
spearhead domestic counterterrorism efforts. Spending authority for
the department had been scheduled to end at midnight on Friday.
 Despite committing to drama-free government after November's
elections, when Republicans won Senate control and tightened their
grip on the House, they quarreled internally in the struggle over
the agency's funding and, in the end, achieved little.
By Tuesday, weeks of drama had left Boehner with few, if any, viable
procedural options to keep the agency open while also placating
conservatives who wanted the funding bill to block Obama's executive
actions.
WEEKS LOST
The intra-party squabbling consumed weeks of lawmakers' time,
casting doubt on promises from Boehner and Senate Majority Leader
Mitch McConnell that the new Republican-led Congress could overcome
its divisions to challenge Obama and forge significant legislative
accomplishments.
In the end, 75 Republican House members joined 182 Democrats to end
the impasse and approve the Senate funding bill.
Senate Democrats had repeatedly blocked a separate House-passed bill
that had included the restrictions on Obama's immigration orders,
while Obama and the Democrats had backed the "clean" funding bill
passed by the Senate.
In the final minutes before the House vote, Representative Charlie
Dent, a moderate Pennsylvania Republican, said during floor debate:
"It's time to move forward and stop playing these silly games. ...
Let's prove to the American people that we're serious about
protecting this homeland and that we have the capacity to govern."
Several Republicans said they would be better served by putting
their energy into legal strategies to overturn Obama's immigration
actions, which have been put on hold by the courts.
"This is where we must focus our actions," said Republican
Representative Mike Simpson of Idaho.
A U.S. appeals court in Washington said it would hear oral arguments
on May 4 in one challenge to Obama's executive actions. A federal
judge in December threw out a lawsuit brought by Arizona sheriff Joe
Arpaio, who called the changes unconstitutional. Arpaio appealed the
ruling.
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CAPITULATION?
Still, some conservatives said the House was making a mistake by
capitulating on the immigration battle.
"This is a very, very sad day," said Republican Representative Matt
Salmon of Arizona. "If we're not going to fight now, when are we
going to fight?"
The White House was pleased that Republican leaders in the House
"abandoned the search for political advantage and are instead just
trying to move forward to do the right thing," spokesman Josh
Earnest said.
On Friday, the House rejected a three-week funding extension and
voted to keep the lights on at Homeland Security for one week,
seeking more time to battle Obama. But Boehner told Republican House
members on Tuesday that it was time to allow a vote on the
provision-free Senate bill.
"The speaker made the case that he had hoped to continue to fight
for three more weeks. Obviously we didn't win that vote last week,
so we are where we are," said Representative Luke Messer of Indiana,
who chairs the Republican Policy Committee.
"It’s disappointing. I had hoped we’d be able to continue to fight,"
he said.
Boehner allowed the use of a procedural motion to bring up the
Senate's funding bill, which passed the House with support from both
moderate Republicans and House Democrats.
The bill provides nearly $40 billion in funding for the agency,
which secures U.S. borders, airports, coastal waters and other
critical facilities. Without the funding, the agency would have been
forced to furlough about 30,000 employees, or about 15 percent of
its workforce. About 200,000 others would have stayed on the job
without pay, including airport and border agents.
Boehner suffered an embarrassing setback last week when
conservatives rebelled against his plan for a three-week extension,
but some said they did not think his ultimate failure on the issue
would threaten his leadership.
"I think anybody who's been watching this knew this is where we were
going to end up back in December," said Representative Thomas
Massie, a conservative Republican from Kentucky.
(Writing by John Whitesides; Editing by Kevin Drawbaugh, G Crosse,
Grant McCool and Ken Wills)
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