Sen. Mark Kirk softens on âcoffinsâ
One day after threatening to pile âcoffinsâ outside Democratic offices if the Department of Homeland Security shuts down, Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) said Wednesday that he would support the clean DHS funding bill that Democrats have been demanding for weeks. Must-pass funding for DHS has been locked in a political stalemate in a dispute over President Barack Obamaâs executive actions on immigration, which Republicans are trying to undo through amendments to the Homeland Security bill. Story Continued Below But on Wednesday, Kirk sided with Democrats who had been pushing Republicans to pass a clean funding bill without immigration riders. âMy hope is that we pass it clean now,â Kirk said Wednesday. âAs the governing party, we should govern. I would think we should just pass a regular appropriations bill under regular order.â At least in tone, Kirkâs comments were a sharp contrast from his comments to POLITICO on Tuesday, in which he blasted Senate Democratsâ behavior during the funding impasse. Democrats have filibustered the DHS legislation three times. âThe Republicans â if there is a successful attack during a DHS shutdown â we should build a number of coffins outside each Democratic office and say, âYou are responsible for these dead Americans,ââ Kirk said Tuesday. But Kirk has also advised against the Republicansâ defunding strategy, telling POLITICO in January that doing so âleads us to a potential government shutdown scenario, which is a self-inflicted political wound for Republicans.â Though he has not explicitly called for a clean funding bill, Sen. Dean Heller (R-Nev.) has also opposed the Republican strategy of blocking Obamaâs executive actions through the appropriations bill.