The U.S. House funded the Department of Homeland Security for the rest of the fiscal year Tuesday, capitulating to Senate Democrats by not attaching any conditions on immigration.
All 10 Georgia House Republicans voted against the plan, which relied on Democrats, moderate Republicans and close allies of Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, to pass. The Senate did the same last week, with both of Georgia's Republican senators opposed.
“The Senate has won this battle, but I can tell you the war’s not over,” said Rep. Buddy Carter, a Pooler Republican.
Democrats unanimously supported the bill, which passed 257-167.
“Should have done this in the very beginning,” said Rep. David Scott, an Atlanta Democrat. “Hopefully, we learn from this: Never put our national security at play (with) political hi-jinks.”
Republicans set up the showdown late last year as a way to contest President Barack Obama’s decision to remove the threat of deportation for millions of illegal immigrants. The idea was to use the power of the purse against the president, but not threaten the shutdown of the entire government – as happened in 2013 in a fight over the new health care law.
Congress in December funded the entire government through September except DHS, which was only extended a few weeks into the new Republican-controlled Congress.
But Senate Democrats remained united – even though some of them disagreed with the action – to filibuster Republicans’ move to tie homeland security funding to a repeal of several immigration actions.
Meanwhile, Obama’s immigration action is on hold after an injunction by a federal judge in Texas.
On Friday, the House averted a DHS shutdown by a couple of hours by putting off the deadline for a week, but never found a way out. Senate Democrats filibustered a motion to go to a House-Senate conference committee, demanding a clean bill or nothing.
Boehner, fearing the fallout for Republicans if the department shut down, told his troops in a meeting Tuesday that it was time to move on.
Senate Republicans "never found a way to win this fight," Boehner said in the closed-door meeting, Washington news outlet Politico reported.
On the House floor, Rep. Mike Simpson, R-Idaho, said: “The Senate has now done all it can do given their unique procedural constraints. It is clear that the legislation before us, while not exactly what the House wanted, is the only path forward to avoid a potentially devastating shutdown.”
Rep. Barry Loudermilk, a Cassville Republican, would have preferred to continue passing short-term funding bills, while the court injunction remains in place, to keep pressure on the Senate.
“It wasn’t the desire of the entire (Republican) conference,” Loudermilk said. “Many were ready to move on, let’s get this behind us. So it looks like it’s going to be behind us now. I’m just afraid we’re going to be continuing to fight this battle in a different form with something else, whether it’s the debt ceiling or taxation.”
Loudermilk and Rep. Jody Hice, a Monroe Republican, were targeted with online ads as part of a $400,000 campaign urging members to fund the department. The ad was paid for by the American Action Network, a Republican-tied Super PAC that has a former Boehner chief of staff on its board. Loudermilk said the ads had the reverse effect: All of the calls he got Tuesday urged him to vote no.
The vote came with minimal debate on the House floor, as the day was dominated by a high-profile speech to Congress by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Boehner was cheered by his fellow House Republicans for bringing Netanyahu to Congress over strenuous objections from the White House.
Loudermilk said he has heard no talk of ousting Boehner. The frustration from Georgia’s Republicans over Tuesday’s vote was directed mostly at the Senate and Obama.
“It’s not what I would like to see,” said Rep. Doug Collins, a Gainesville Republican who went along with the strategy to set up the homeland security funding fight.
An animated Collins questioned why Obama would not compromise with Republicans and instead was willing to risk a DHS shutdown “on a proposal that frankly he himself has said 22 times he couldn’t do?” referring to the numerous times Obama said he could not enact comprehensive immigration reform without Congress.
“Not sure why he would want to do that, but if anybody wants to ask, I would beg somebody – anybody – to stand up at the White House press conference and ask the president why he’s putting the country in this jeopardy.”
Obama’s action to allow as many as 5 million illegal immigrants to remain is more limited than a proposed immigration reform bill, but its constitutionality is being tested in the courts.
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., a supporter of Obama’s actions who was unyielding in his opposition to GOP plans, said in a statement that “we must stop governing by crisis.”
“Common ground should be something we seek, not run away from – especially when the security of our nation is at stake,” Reid said. “If we are going to get anything done, we must not be afraid of working together.”
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