Throughout the last five years, the Republicans used the Senate’s filibuster rule to strike down several legislations and presidential nominations. The GOP was rapidly deemed “the party of no” by the Democratic Party, but now it appears that the roles may be reversed. In their effort to protect President Obama’s recent executive order, the Democrats shut down the House-passed Department of Homeland Security bill four times this month. The reason being that the House-passed DHS bill was synchronized with measures to block Obama’s executive order, which would grant temporary deportation relief and work authorization to a minimum of 5 million immigrants. Regardless of the filibuster, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky) put forward a new offer on Tuesday. McConnell proposed that a clean DHS bill, one without any measures against Obama’s executive actions, be put through the Senate and House. The Senate spent little time deliberating over the proposal and voted 98-2 in favor of moving forward with the bill, putting House Speaker John Boehner between a rock and a hard place.
If Boehner blocks the vote, many will hold him responsible for the Department of Homeland Security shutdown. If the DHS shuts down, only around 30,000 employees, mostly administrators, will be sent home with no pay. Work will continue for approximately 240,000 federal employees whose jobs are considered “necessary for safety of life and protection of property”, but they too will receive no compensation during the shutdown. This will remain the case until Congress grants the DHS new funding. In the past, Congress has always granted federal employees their lost pay at the conclusion of a shut down.
However, if Boehner allows a vote, under heavy disapproval from the GOP, the decision remains in the hands of the House. Pending on the outcome, the $40 billion dollar spending bill may or may not end up on President Obama’s desk for approval. Whether or not the DHS bill is passed, the Senate does not plan to drop efforts to block Obama’s executive order that easily, stating that they will vote on a separate bill from Senator Susan Collins (R-Maine).
The United States Department of Homeland Security was created after the September 11th terrorist attacks in order to protect America’s borders and is made up of several agencies such as the Coast Guard, Secret Service, Customs and Border Protection, etc. Recent threats from Al Shabab on American shopping malls, such as the Mall of America in Minneonapolis, already have the Department of Homeland Security on edge. The DHS will officially run out of money at midnight tonight, leaving the House little time to figure out a solution if they have not already.