Morning Roundup: GOP Infighting Part II
GOP infighting continues as Senate and House Republican leaders struggle to come up with a strategy to avoid a DHS shutdown before the February 27 deadline. Democrats have introduced a clean funding measure that can pass the House and Senate and be signed into law, but with only six legislative days left until DHS funding runs out, Republican leaders continue to ignore the obvious solution that would keep DHS open and ensure it has the resources to keep Americans safe:
From the Washington Post:
“The Republican honeymoon is over on Capitol Hill.”
“Just a month into their taking full control of Congress, Republican leaders in the House and Senate are at odds over how to avoid shutting down the Department of Homeland Security as part of an immigration fight with the Obama administration.”
“Now the majority party in both chambers, Republicans are eager to demonstrate that they can govern after a banner election boosted their numbers to historic levels, but with the DHS deadline looming, the party is facing its biggest predicament of the new Congress.”
“Senate Republican leaders argue that, after three failed attempts, they cannot win approval of a House-passed DHS funding bill that challenges President Obama’s executive actions on immigration, because of Democratic resistance. The House Republican position is that the Senate GOP should keep trying.”
“Republicans on Wednesday held their most direct talks yet about how to end the impasse but could not agree on a strategy for doing so. A pair of new senators who were in the House last year went across the Capitol to address House Republicans at the morning meeting. Later, a top House Republican spoke at a Senate GOP lunch.”
“There were no breakthroughs.”
“Senate Republicans are increasingly convinced that the House must come up with a different, more moderate bill that some Democrats can support.”
“‘Clearly the DHS bill, as constructed, is not going to get 60 votes’ said Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.). ‘So we would urge the House to do something new.’”
“Republicans, bowing to conservative pressure, had insisted late last year on funding the department only through the end of this month — hoping to gain leverage to counter Obama’s use of executive authority to curtail deportations for many undocumented immigrants and make other changes to immigration policy.”
“For years, the GOP turmoil over how to handle their internal political and legislative differences has been confined to the House. But it is now spilling out over to the Senate.”
“‘One way or the other, we have to get the funding,’ said Rep. Peter T. King (R-N.Y.).”
From Politico:
“A faction of House and Senate conservatives is pushing Republican leaders to take the battle over the Homeland Security Department to the brink, arguing they would win the public relations war with Democrats if a standoff over immigration led to a shutdown of the agency.”
“The closed-door debate picked up new urgency in the Capitol on Wednesday, with House and Senate GOP leaders in an awkward public impasse over the issue — just a month after they assumed complete control of Congress and with two weeks before funding runs out for the department.”
“Conservative hardliners are arguing they have a stronger political hand now than they did in 2013, when a fight over Obamacare led to a 16-day government shutdown and a backlash for Republicans.”
“But other GOP leaders are skeptical, including [Senator] Wicker’s House counterpart, Oregon’s Greg Walden, who runs the House GOP campaign committee.”
“‘I don’t think we win that debate in the press, we don’t, for a lot of reasons,’ Walden said. ‘Some people think we can. I’m not one of them. Just because the American people expect us to come here and get our job done and get our work done, and work out our differences — and especially in the area of national security.’”
“The push by conservatives underscores the tricky political position of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), who are trying to balance the demands of the GOP base to fight Obama’s immigration policies as well as their promises to run Washington without any more fiscal crises.”
“With threats growing from abroad, many Republicans worry about any DHS shutdown, even if they disagree with Obama on immigration. Sen. Mark Kirk, a blue-state Republican facing a potentially tough reelection in Illinois next year, came out Wednesday for a clean funding bill, saying, ‘As the governing party, we should govern.’”
From The Hill:
“A pair of GOP senators implored House Republicans Thursday to soften their stance in the intra-party dispute over funding the Department of Homeland Security.”
“Sens. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) and Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), who both formerly served in the lower chamber, stressed to the House GOP conference behind closed doors that the Senate can’t get the 60 votes it needs to advance the House-passed DHS funding bill that includes language to reverse President Obama's executive actions on immigration.”
“Despite the senators’ appeal to their former colleagues, House Republicans said their conference is sticking with the original strategy.”
“They told Gardner and Capito to tell Senate GOP leaders to keep trying to move the House-passed bill, Fleming said, despite three failed votes last week.”
“Aides said GOP leaders' message to rank-and-file members was clear: We're staying the course.”
“‘At some point, we're going to have to pass something closer to a clean or cleaner bill,’ said Rep. Charlie Dent (R-Pa.), who was one of the 26 Republicans to vote against provisions to freeze the 2012 program allowing illegal immigrants who came to the U.S. as children to apply for work permits.”
From The Hill:
“A House GOP lawmaker said Wednesday that a ‘clean’ bill funding the Department of Homeland Security would be better politically than passing a short-term continuing resolution (CR) funding the agency.”
“‘I think it’s better politically to vote for a clean appropriations bill,’ he added. ‘That’s better on a policy basis as well as on a political basis. I’m going to urge that we do the DHS bill and not a CR, but a CR is better than a shutdown.’”
“‘We all know how this is going to end: it’s going to end in a CR or a clean or cleaner DHS appropriations bill,’ he said.”
“Dent said he hopes Congress doesn’t allow DHS to shut down at the end of February.”
“‘I’ve talked to a lot of members who feel as I do,’ he said. ‘We need to pass the bill…pull the bandage off the scab and get it done.’”
“Dent’s comments come as GOP leaders in both the House and Senate struggle to figure out their plan B. The House-passed bill includes riders that would reverse President Obama’s immigration orders from 2011, 2012 and 2014.”