Boehner sidesteps funding queries

House rules suggest vote likely on unfettered homeland bill

WASHINGTON -- Speaker John Boehner left open the possibility Monday that the House might pass long-term funding for the Homeland Security Department without immigration provisions attached, as Republican options dwindled for avoiding a capitulation to the White House and Democrats.

Boehner declined to say over the weekend if he would permit a vote on the Senate-passed measure, and his spokesman similarly sidestepped the question Monday. Officials in both parties predict it would pass, and end the recurring threat of a partial agency shutdown.

The White House also urged a vote on the bill, which would provide funding for the department through the Sept. 30 end of the budget year. It has been stripped of provisions to roll back administration directives shielding millions of illegal aliens from the threat of deportation.

Democrats said they believe the House eventually will vote on the stand-alone spending measure, which conservatives oppose and President Barack Obama is eager to sign.

Despite claims by House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of California and others in her party, Boehner denied pledging last week to permit a vote on a full-year funding bill without immigration provisions in exchange for Democratic votes on the one-week measure that avoided a partial shutdown.

Instead, he said in a CBS interview over the weekend that he had promised her he would follow the "regular order" in the House, which generally means following the rules as legislation is debated. In this case, he said if Senate Democrats blocked GOP attempts to open negotiations on the issue, the stand-alone bill "may be coming back to the House."

Across the Capitol, Senate Democrats did their part, formally rejecting a Republican bid to convene House-Senate negotiations on the issue.

In a 47-43 vote with 60 needed, the Senate rejected Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's attempt. Arkansas Sens. John Boozman and Tom Cotton, both Republicans, voted to convene negotiations.

The result was to send the long-term funding measure back to the House, where rules generally permit any lawmaker to seek a vote on it.

With the agency headed for a partial shutdown at midnight Friday, time was growing short.

"This push by House Republicans to go to conference is the very definition of an exercise in futility," Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat, said in a floor speech before the vote. "I've been very clear for days now that we will not go to conference."

Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said Thursday that a partial shutdown of his agency would require 30,000 Homeland Security employees to be furloughed and 170,000 essential personnel to keep working without pay.

The Senate passed a funding measure Friday without the immigration language.

Boehner has refused to take up the Senate version of the measure after protests from conservatives who say he promised to fight to roll back Obama's actions. Instead, the House passed a one-week stopgap bill Friday, two hours before funding was set to expire.

That created a new deadline for this Friday. Republicans said they backed the temporary funding bill to try to force Democrats into a conference committee.

Second-ranking House Democrat Steny Hoyer told reporters Monday that members of his party expect the House to vote this week on the Senate's plan to fund Homeland Security without rolling back Obama's immigration actions.

One option is a House rule to allow any member to force a vote on the Senate bill. House Republicans have refused to allow a vote on the Senate measure funding the agency through September, which Democrats say would pass if it were brought to the floor.

"There are a number of ways it could come up," Hoyer said. "That is why we voted for a one-week extension."

Democrats got an assist from an unlikely source. The American Action Network, a political organization with links to the House GOP leadership, said it would spend more than $400,000 this week in advertising pressuring conservatives not to stand in the way of "critical security funding."

"That's the wrong message to send to our enemies," one ad said.

Information for this article was contributed by David Espo, Alan Fram and Matthew Daly of The Associated Press and by Heidi Przybyla and Billy House of Bloomberg News.

A Section on 03/03/2015

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