Democrats likely to block House immigration bill
Senate Democrats sound increasingly likely to prevent the Houseâs Homeland Security funding bill from even coming to the Senate floor for debate, which would mark their second filibuster of the young Congress. Democrats on Tuesday laid out their opposition to the Houseâs funding bill in a letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), urging him to rid the Department of Homeland Security bill of the policy riders that would block the presidentâs executive actions that shield millions of undocumented immigrants from deportation. Story Continued Below Thatâs not going to happen, so now the Senate minority is weighing going a step further and preventing the bill from even being debated on the floor of the Senate, according to Democratic aides and senators. This would prevent consideration of any amendments to the bill, but also flex Democratsâ minority muscles and create a scheduling headache for Republican leaders. Those GOP leaders would be forced to find something else to put on the Senate floor and figure out how to fund DHS past Feb. 27 while also satisfying Republicans furious with Obamaâs immigration policies. âI donât know of anybody on the Democratic side that believes that the riders that the House put on are something that we should vote for,â said Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), the top Democrat overseeing funding for the Department of Homeland Security. Democrats complained bitterly for years about Republicans blocking their legislation from even being debated on the floor, but party aides said they are strongly considering stopping the hardline DHS bill in its tracks with a filibuster. Democrats see no upside to allowing the DHS bill to come to the floor of the Senate, namely because they donât believe they will be allowed to vote on their clean funding bill as an amendment. âThe House bill is DOA so why waste time on it?â said one Democratic aide. Republican leaders still wonât say what the ultimate end-game is for Homeland Security funding, other than that the Senate will vote on the House-passed bill that eviscerates the presidents executive action. Itâs not clear either what the Senate would consider next if the DHS bill dies early next week. âWe have options,â said Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-Texas.). âBut weâre committed to fighting for the House position and thatâs what weâre going to be doing.â McConnell says the Senate will consider the Department of Homeland Security funding bill next as soon as the chamber wraps up approval of the Keystone XL Pipeline. On Monday, Senate Democrats blocked McConnellâs attempts to finish the Keystone bill, demanding more votes on amendments, their first filibuster of the year.