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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Senate advances Department of Homeland Security funding bill

Tribune News Service

WASHINGTON – The Senate on Wednesday forged ahead with a bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security, while House Republicans were at odds over a plan to strip out provisions rolling back President Barack Obama’s executive actions on immigration.

With the DHS budget set to expire Friday, the bill advanced in the Senate on a 98-2 procedural vote after Democratic leaders abandoned a vow not to support it unless they had assurances that it could pass the House of Representatives. Final Senate passage of the bill could come as early as today.

“It’s an important step to be able to send the House of Representatives a bill that funds the Department of Homeland Security,” Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., told reporters.

But the fate of DHS funding remained unclear Wednesday in the House. Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, was mum on how his chamber will address Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s plan.

“I’m waiting for the Senate to pass a bill,” Boehner told reporters after the meeting. “I don’t know what the Senate is capable of passing. And until I see what they’re going to pass, no decision has been made on the House side.”

Senate Democrats ended a filibuster of the bill after McConnell, R-Ky., unveiled a two-stage plan to allow a vote on a homeland security bill without the immigration provisions and a separate vote on a measure that would halt Obama’s 2014 executive action to defer the deportation of millions of immigrants living in the country illegally.

Some House Republicans view McConnell’s plan as surrendering to Obama’s immigration moves, which they believe are unconstitutional.

Hoping to keep the pressure on Congress, Obama traveled to Miami for a nationally televised town hall meeting on immigration.