Mitch McConnell and Harry Reid are ready to put an end to Capitol Hill’s latest drama and fund the Department of Homeland Security.

There’s just one problem: Speaker John Boehner.


The Senate majority and minority leaders cut a deal that did not have Boehner’s blessing, sources say, and now the speaker is weighing whether to go down without a fight. House Republican leaders are strongly considering amending the Senate’s “clean” DHS funding bill and dumping it back on McConnell’s doorstep. That would complicate the fraught negotiations on the eve of a funding deadline for the domestic security agency and illustrate a new level of dissonance between the top two Republican leaders, according to multiple lawmakers and aides involved in the deliberations.

The discussions on whether to accept a Senate plan, which would fund DHS through September and allow President Barack Obama’s immigration policies to stand, are still in their early phases. And Boehner may ultimately back down if he runs out of time. But the fact that Boehner is initially distancing himself from the emerging bipartisan Senate deal underscores his conundrum — and the stiff challenge confronting the new Republican Congress in attempting to appease tea party conservatives and an uncompromising White House.

Boehner and his leadership team are mulling several different options, and the situation is very fluid. One is to approve a one- to two-week stopgap funding bill, alongside a request for a formal negotiation between the House’s bill — which would stop Obama’s unilateral immigration policies — and the Senate’s proposal, which would not change the president’s executive actions.

Another alternative House leaders are weighing is to tie DHS funding to the outcome of a court fight over Obama’s 2014 decision to shield roughly 5 million illegal immigrants from deportation. A federal district judge in Texas blocked the Obama policy, but the administration is seeking an emergency stay and an appeal of the ruling.

The House GOP’s next move wouldn’t necessarily shut down DHS, but it could prolong the process.

Boehner is playing a game of political survival. Most of his inner circle knows that the House will be forced to swallow a clean DHS funding bill at some point. But if the speaker wants to keep conservatives from launching a rebellion, it may be too early to capitulate. Boehner is aware of the perilous situation he’s facing — which is why, in private conversations with lawmakers, he’s telling them to “stay tuned” without tipping his hand on his next move.

Speaking to his caucus Wednesday, Boehner said he hadn’t spoken to McConnell in two weeks, an apparent attempt to distance himself from the Senate GOP leader’s plan. It seemed to highlight what will likely be an unfolding dynamic in the coming Congress, particularly over fiscal matters: The Senate will be forced to cut deals on politically toxic issues, and Boehner will ultimately be forced to accept them in order to avoid potential crises.

McConnell, meanwhile, has turned into one of the most loathed figures among far-right House conservatives. Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) said the Kentucky Republican has given up and “tipped over his king.” And Rep. Bill Flores of Texas, the leader of the conservative Republican Study Committee, said McConnell’s advancing of a clean bill is “disappointing.”

The Boehner vs. McConnell dynamic is not new, but it is more pronounced in the new Republican-controlled Congress. It’s fueled by that fact that House conservatives are eager to push an aggressive agenda but are running into institutional roadblocks in the Senate, where six Democrats are needed to break a filibuster. The two leaders have long kept each other abreast of their plans, but during this immigration showdown, they appear to be operating on separate tracks. They did meet for 40 minutes on Wednesday, after McConnell had made his move on a legislative strategy.

While discussions between the two men have been sporadic in recent weeks, their aides, who insist Boehner and McConnell have a good relationship, still interact daily.

Making Boehner’s plight more challenging is the uncompromising position of Senate Democrats and the White House. Reid (D-Nev.) has said his caucus would not accept any changes to the Senate’s proposed standalone bill to fund DHS, which is expected to be approved by that chamber imminently.

“I guess you could be criticized for working too closely with the Senate, or you could be criticized for not working closely enough,” said Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-Texas) when asked about Boehner. “You lose either way.”

When the Senate will actually vote on its plan is still unclear. Given the time constraints, McConnell will need cooperation from all 100 senators in order to remove the immigration provisions from the original House plan and approve a clean funding bill. Any individual senator can drag out debate through the weekend.

While the bill will almost certainly eventually pass the Senate, conservative Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama and others have furiously objected to McConnell’s effort, signaling that the funding fight could go down to the wire.

Any delay would complicate Boehner’s plan to send the bill with changes back to the Senate.

If he’s faced with no other choice, Boehner’s leadership colleagues believe they will eventually be able to move the Senate’s bill through their chamber in order to avoid a DHS shutdown.

Top Republicans were heartened when, during a closed meeting Wednesday, not a single conservative suggested Republicans shut down the agency, attendees said. Many were more upset with a Republican-written education bill, which is scheduled for a vote Thursday.

If Boehner is forced to relent on DHS funding — which he almost certainly will be — he will tell Republicans that the House stood firm but Senate Republicans were unable to deliver.

McConnell and Reid privately decided Tuesday to advance a $39.7 billion DHS funding bill free from provisions that targeted Obama’s immigration policies. McConnell agreed to relent after Reid’s caucus filibustered a House-passed bill on four separate occasions, demanding that Republicans strip the immigration provisions or risk a shutdown of the department. The Senate opened debate on the House bill Wednesday, with senators preparing to strip the plan of all immigration riders.

At the same time, the Senate is moving separately on a bill drafted by Maine Sen. Susan Collins, which would block Obama’s November immigration move but is not tied to the funding process — and will likely lack the votes to override a veto.

Reid said Wednesday that Democrats would not allow the Collins plan to come forward for a debate unless the DHS is fully funded. House Republicans are weighing whether they should pass a short-term continuing resolution for DHS until Reid relents and allows the Collins plan to advance, sources say.

Emerging from a tense closed-door Senate GOP lunch, Republican senators signaled they were ready to move on from a fight that has paralyzed the new GOP Congress in just its second month in power.

“There are some that object,” said Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), “but I hope that we have convinced them that this is not a good idea — right now — to shut down the Department of Homeland Security.”