McConnell offers DHS bill free of immigration measures

Erin Kelly and Susan Davis | USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — Bowing to political realities and Democratic opposition, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Tuesday that he would allow a vote on a Homeland Security funding bill without any immigration provisions attached.

McConnell's action may help avert a partial shutdown of the agency, which is scheduled to run out of money at midnight Friday.

"With Democratic cooperation--on a position they have been advocating for the past two months--we could have that vote very quickly," McConnell told reporters.

He would then seek a separate Friday vote that would allow senators to go on record in support or opposition to President Obama's executive actions on immigration.

The Kentucky Republican extended the offer to Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., who said Democrats would likely be on board if House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, can assure House passage of the bill. "Now all eyes are on Speaker Boehner," Reid said.

Boehner's spokesman, Michael Steel, said House Republicans are still watching what Senate Democrats do.

"The Speaker has been clear: the House has acted, and now Senate Democrats need to stop hiding," Steel said. "Will they continue to block funding for the Department of Homeland Security or not?"

House Republicans have objected so far to a "clean" funding bill, but it is the only DHS legislation that can overcome a Democratic filibuster. Senate Democrats are unanimously opposed to using the annual funding measure as a vehicle to block Obama's executive orders, which would protect about 4 million undocumented immigrants from deportation and allow them to work legally in the USA.

Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, D-Md, the second-ranking House Democrat, said he believes there would be support for McConnell's two-track strategy because it is consistent with Democrats' argument that the immigration debate should be separate from the DHS funding debate.

"If that's done, if McConnell does carry that out, he will find overwhelming support for the DHS funding bill" and a willingness to debate immigration, Hoyer said.

The $40 billion DHS funding bill would run through Sept. 30, the end of the fiscal year, and be free of any of the divisive immigration amendments that led to the latest impasse.

Separating the two bills, McConnell said, gives Democrats what they have asked for: a chance to vote for a bill to pay for DHS operations that does not try to derail Obama's immigration actions.

At the same time, McConnell said, Republicans and Democrats who don't like Obama's immigration action can register their opposition by voting for the separate bill to defund those programs.

"This gives us an opportunity to do both," he said.

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., dismissed McConnell's immigration bill as "a show vote" and said Democrats would not vote on that bill until the DHS bill is approved. McConnell said he would be willing to pass the DHS bill first in order to reach an agreement.

Republican congressional leaders have been looking for a way to end the five-week funding impasse and prevent a partial shutdown of DHS, which includes the Coast Guard, the Secret Service, Customs and Border Protection, the Transportation Security Administration and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Last week,a federal court judge in Texas issued a temporary injunction to prevent Obama's immigration orders from taking effect while 26 states challenge the constitutionality of the president's actions.

"I see that as a major victory," said Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., who said the decision could help advance the funding bill now.

The court ruling gives Congress a good reason to pass a DHS funding bill this week, added Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas.

"No money can be used to implement the president's illegal executive action under that injunction," Cornyn said. "What we need to do this week is make sure the Department of Homeland Security is funded."

The administration, however, is appealing the ruling. The White House says that Obama was well within his rights to take executive action. Obama acted in November after it was clear that the House was not going to pass an overhaul of the nation's immigration system.

Not all Republican senators were happy with McConnell's proposed compromise.

Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., said Congress should not rely on the courts to stop Obama's immigration actions, especially since it's likely that at least one court will side with the president. He said Congress has a duty to eliminate funding for Obama's immigration programs in the DHS spending bill.

"We want to fund fully homeland security," Sessions said. "We don't want to fund an unlawful action by the president."