House, Senate Republicans still stalled on DHS funding measure

House Speaker John A. Boehner of Ohio responds to reporters about the problems in passing the Homeland Security budget because of Republican efforts to block President Obama's executive actions on immigration. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP)

By Sean Sullivan February 26 at 3:12 PM

House and Senate Republican leaders remained at an impasse Thursday afternoon over how to fund the Department of Homeland Security and avoid a looming partial shutdown of the agency.

Facing a Friday night-into-Saturday morning shutdown deadline, Senate Republicans and Democrats were trying to move swiftly ahead with a bill to fund the agency through September. The bill would not take aim at President Obama’s executive actions on immigration.

A new sign that the bill is increasingly unlikely to face tactical delays from Senate conservatives came Thursday afternoon, when one of the leading critics of Obama’s immigration actions, Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), said that he did not plan to hold up the measure and was “not aware” of others planning to do so.

“I think it’s appropriate to move forward with the bill,” Sessions said. “Ideas about how the process will go forward seem to be firming up. I’m not happy with them, but I’m not interested in delay merely for the sake of delay.”

But House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) declined to say whether he would take the bill up in his chamber. He said the House has done its part by passing a bill that would fund DHS and also go after Obama’s immigration actions. Senate Democrats have repeatedly blocked that bill.

“We’ll wait to see what the Senate can or can’t do,” Boehner told reporters. He accused Senate Democrats of “blackmail to protect the actions of the president.”

At a joint news conference, Senate Minority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) called on Boehner to swiftly bring up the Senate bill once it passes the Senate and warned House GOP leaders not to amend it.

“It is a waste of time. We will not allow a conference to take place,” said Reid, shooting down the possibility of a House-Senate conference that some have suggested.

The Senate bill, which Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) put forward after it was clear the House bill would not advance in his chamber, could come to a vote as early as Thursday afternoon.

With time running out, the idea of passing a stopgap bill as an emergency measure that would avoid a shutdown and keep DHS up and running has received more attention.

Reid declined to say whether he would try to block a short-term bill seen by many members as a last resort if a longer-term deal cannot be reached. Pelosi argued that a short-term bill is not a good solution.

“It’s harmful to our national security, our homeland security, for us to be inching along, whether it’s two months, four months,” she said.

Democrats sought to ramp up pressure on Republicans to act by pointing to real-world dangers the country is confronting as the DHS debate is unfolding. They cited the threat of the Islamic State, the recent mass shooting at a French satirical newspaper and concerns about disaster preparedness.

“I have a grandson in eighth grade and his knowledge about how to pass a bill is superior to what we’ve seen among the Republicans,” Pelosi said.

At least one member said he would forgo pay during a DHS shutdown, in solidarity with nonessential employees facing the prospect of a furlough.

“As long as the employees of the Department of Homeland Security including Border Patrol, Coast Guard and TSA are working while not receiving paychecks, I will ask that my paycheck be withheld,” said Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Calif.) in a statement.

As the Senate moved closer to passing a bill, House GOP leaders summoned rank-and-file Republican members to a 5 p.m. meeting in the basement of the Capitol to discuss next steps.

Rep. Tim Huelskamp (R-Kan.), a conservative critic of GOP leadership, said Boehner is handling the DHS fight “as best as can be expected” and that “no news is good news” with regard to House GOP leaders’ position in the debate.

But Huelskamp lashed out at McConnell.

“Harry Reid’s still in charge. There are going to be millions of folks that helped change the Senate from Democrat to Republican [who] are going to be disappointed in Sen. McConnell,” he said.

Sean Sullivan has covered national politics for The Washington Post since 2012.