The filibuster continues.
The Senate was unable to muster enough votes Wednesday to overcome a Democratic filibuster and bring up a bill that would fund the Department of Homeland Security and reverse some of President Barack Obama’s executive actions on immigration.
Needing a 60-vote majority to pass, the procedural vote failed 53-47. On Tuesday, the same motion for senators to begin debate the DHS bill was rejected on a 51-48 vote.
‘Today’s Democratic Party seems willing to go to any length to protect the kind of executive overreach President Obama once described as ‘not how out democracy functions’ – even to block Homeland Security funding to get its way,’ Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said.
But Democrats countered that it was Senate Republicans who are causing problems by trying to push a recently-passed $40 billion House bill to fund DHS that includes amendments to roll back Obama’s immigration actions.
‘Is it that important to the House Republicans and Senate Republicans that they’re willing to risk funding the Department of Homeland Security,’ said Assistant Minority Leader Dick Durbin, D-Il. ‘What is it that is holding them up from putting the resources in the hands of Secretary (Jeh) Johnson and this department that they need to keep America safe?’
If lawmakers don’t agree on funding for DHS by Feb. 27, the agency could face a partial shutdown.
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