Tag: homeland security shutdown
Surrender: Government-By-Crisis Fails The GOP Again

Surrender: Government-By-Crisis Fails The GOP Again

Ever since Republicans first devised their ill-conceived plan to use funding for the Department of Homeland Security as a hostage in hopes of forcing President Obama to abandon his immigration policy, the gambit was doomed to eventual failure.

On Tuesday, the debacle reached its logical conclusion. Hours after Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) acknowledged defeat, the House of Representatives ended the game and passed a bill funding DHS through September, without preconditions. The bill passed the house 257 to 167, with just 75 Republicans joining the Democratic minority to keep the department open.

There was never any real doubt that this would be the outcome. Since the equally poorly-thought-out government shutdown of 2013, President Obama has made it clear that he will not give in to Republican attempts to use must-pass spending bills to blackmail him into dismantling his agenda. The Department of Homeland Security was always a poor target for a hostage, given its importance to national security — and the fact that shutting it down would do nothing to stop President Obama’s executive actions on immigration. And voters were always going to blame Republicans, not Democrats, for a crisis that the GOP created.

Still, House Republicans insisted on dragging the crisis out until the last second, and managed to undermine Speaker Boehner’s tenuous authority in the process. Yet again.

So will this latest humiliation convince Boehner and his caucus to rethink their strategy of government-by-crisis? It’s unlikely; if the “fiscal cliff,” the government shutdown, and repeated debt ceiling standoffs (among other House-made emergencies) didn’t change their course, there’s no reason to believe that the DHS near-shutdown will be different.

In related news, on Tuesday the Congressional Budget Office announced that the debt ceiling will have to be increased in October or November.

Photo: Speaker Boehner via Flickr

House GOP Gives Up Fight On Homeland Security Funds, Approves Budget

House GOP Gives Up Fight On Homeland Security Funds, Approves Budget

By Lisa Mascaro, Tribune Washington Bureau (TNS)

WASHINGTON — Congress ended the latest crisis over funding the Department of Homeland Security on Tuesday after Speaker John A. Boehner switched course, abandoning the GOP’s strategy of trying to tack on restrictions to President Barack Obama’s immigration plan.

Conservatives were outraged that the embattled speaker declined to continue their fight against the immigration actions that many Republicans view as an overreach of executive authority. They staged a series of procedural votes to prevent final approval. But the bill’s final passage allows GOP leadership to move away from a prolonged standoff that threatened the party’s image as Homeland Security funds were set to expire at the end of the week.

The vote was 257-167 after Boehner was forced to leave his conservative flank behind and reach across the aisle for support from Democrats led by Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi — something Boehner has been reluctant but repeatedly forced to do on major legislation.

“I am as outraged and frustrated as you at the lawless and unconstitutional actions of this president,” Boehner told his majority, as he announced his decision early Tuesday at a private meeting, according to a person in the room not authorized to discuss the session on the record.

But facing another midnight Friday deadline to fund the department or risk a shutdown, giving in was the best course of action, he said.

“I believe this decision — considering where we are — is the right one for this team, and the right one for this country,” Boehner said.

Just 75 Republicans voted to approve the measure; no Democrats opposed it.

Obama was expected to swiftly sign the bill into law. The Senate, under Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), approved the measure last week in a bipartisan vote, leaving Boehner few options. The bill will fund the big Homeland Security Department, which oversees the nation’s vast domestic security and anti-terrorism apparatus, through Sept. 30.

The sudden change of course arrived none too soon for Republican leaders who endured criticism for failing to control their majority now that the party has control of Congress for the first time in eight years.

The strategy of using the funding bill to force Obama to back down on his immigration plan has consumed the first two months of the new Congress, escalating the party’s tough rhetoric against Latinos and other minority groups the party is trying to court in the run-up to the 2016 presidential election.

That approach failed in the Senate, where Democrats blocked repeated attempts by McConnell to advance the legislation with restrictions on Obama’s plan to protect from deportation up to 5 million immigrants who are in the U.S. illegally.

“Unfortunately, the fight was never won in the other chamber,” Boehner said. “Democrats stayed united and blocked our bill, and our Republican colleagues in the Senate never found a way to win this fight.”

Boehner tried to persuade his rank-and-file to turn their attention to the court fight over Obama’s plan, which was temporarily halted this month by a Texas judge. The administration is fighting the judge’s order.

“The good news is that the president’s executive action has been stopped, for now,” Boehner told Republicans in the closed session. “This matter will continue to be litigated in the courts, where we have our best chance of winning this fight.”

But that offered no salve to the GOP’s conservative flank, which has been dissatisfied with Boehner’s tenure as speaker. They staged a series of procedural maneuvers, including forcing a partial reading of the bill, as a floor fight broke out between Republicans. Some have grumbled that another leader may be better — though they have been unable to coalesce around an alternative choice.

“We need to stand up, use the power of the purse,” said Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), who led the floor challenge.

“It’s disappointing,” said Rep. Luke Messer (R-IN). “I hoped we’d be able to continue the fight.”

“We just have to keep fighting on all levels to prevent illegal executive amnesty,” added Republican Rep. John Fleming of Louisiana.

A funding cutoff would have furloughed some Homeland Security employees but forced most others to work without pay. The department oversees the Border Patrol, airport screenings and other crucial security programs, and Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson had pleaded with Congress to provide stable funding.

More pragmatic Republicans appeared relieved that the potentially damaging episode was over, for now, as they party tries to return to its agenda.

“Having a clean DHS bill will allow us move forward on not only this issue but other issues here in the future,” said Rep. Jeff Denham (R-CA). “My thought has always been that we do not think what the president has done is constitutional, but that is something we should address in an immigration bill.”

AFP Photo

Boehner Says House To Vote On Clean DHS Funding

Boehner Says House To Vote On Clean DHS Funding

Washington (AFP) – U.S. House Speaker John Boehner told Republicans he will allow a vote on a clean Department of Homeland Security funding bill Tuesday, overriding conservative efforts to block President Barack Obama’s immigration plan.

Senior aides in the room confirmed that Boehner told members at his party’s Tuesday morning caucus that he was prepared to swiftly put a clean DHS funding bill to a vote, effectively ending the congressional battle that had threatened to shut down a critical agency designed to protect Americans.

It would likely pass easily because such a measure would earn support from Democrats who are united in seeking to secure DHS funding without amendments that would repeal President Barack Obama’s controversial executive orders on immigration from last November.

“As you’ve heard me say a number of times, the House has done its job by passing legislation to fund DHS and block the president’s executive actions on immigration,” Boehner told rank-and-file Republicans, according to a person in the room.

“Unfortunately, the fight was never won in the other chamber.”

Boehner invoked the threat of terrorism as a rationale for ending the fight and funding DHS through the end of the fiscal year on September 30, saying pushing the agency into shutdown would be a mistake.

“With more active threats coming into the homeland, I don’t believe that’s an option,” he said, according to a source.

“Imagine if, God forbid, another terrorist attack hits the United States.”

Boehner, who has been under intense pressure from a small band of far-right conservatives to stand firm and insist on linking the two issues, ultimately retreated from those demands when it became clear there was no path to victory on the issue.

The House passed a measure attaching the immigration rollback to DHS funding, but Democrats blocked it repeatedly in the Senate.

Congress must fund DHS by Friday or the agency will run out of money, although in the event of a shutdown most border personnel, airport screeners and Secret Service agents would remain on the job without pay.

U.S. Speaker of the House John Boehner speaks during a press conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC on July 17, 2014 (AFP Photo/Jim Watson)

Congressional Dysfunction, The Serialized Tragicomedy

Congressional Dysfunction, The Serialized Tragicomedy

The problem with modern-day politics, aside from everything, is that it lacks consistent excitement.

Sure, there are moments when debate over a major bill gets attention, but our interest fades once the bill passes and we drift back to more intriguing things, like reality television shows about dumb people.

Last week, however, lawmakers in the GOP-controlled Congress took a step that could turn American politics into must-see TV: They serialized democracy.

At issue was a bill to continue funding the Department of Homeland Security, the folks responsible for protecting our borders and keeping the country safe from terrorism. Most would agree it’s important to have that part of the government functioning, largely so it can do its “keeping the country safe from terrorism” thing.

After the requisite amount of harrumphing and whatnot, lawmakers could have just funded the department and moved on to other matters, allowing us to get bored and shift our attention to the myriad Kardashians we have to keep up with.

Instead, a wily group of Republicans decided the Homeland Security funding bill would be a great thing to use as leverage against President Barack Obama’s recent executive action on immigration, which is supposed to shield from deportation about 5 million immigrants who live in the U.S. illegally. The GOP lawmakers said they would only fund the Department of Homeland Security if the bill also rolled back Obama’s executive action, which they say is illegal and tyrannical and really hurt their feelings.

The problem is, Democrats won’t vote for a DHS funding bill that overrides the president’s immigration action, and even if they did, Obama would veto the whole thing. Also, the president’s attempt at immigration reform was recently suspended by a federal judge.

But legal limbo and the Sisyphean nature of legislatively doing away with Obama’s executive action would not deter these Republicans. They stuck to their guns, shot down short-term funding measures and — as the clock ticked to the deadline — finally agreed to give the Department of Homeland Security a week’s worth of additional money.

Several Republicans criticized their own party for being unable to reach agreement on a long-term bill that would keep the DHS running. And Democrats, naturally, had a field day.

Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee communications director Matt Thornton told Politico: “If this is a harbinger of things to come, the American public is in for a very long, painful and unproductive Congress.”

That’s one way to look at things. The other is that America is in for a long, gloriously dramatic and delightfully farcical new season of “Congress.”

With a one-week funding extension, Republicans gave us not just a dramatic cliffhanger — What happens when the homeland you love is no longer protected? — but the promise of another week of political intrigue.

Will Obama cave to the GOP’s pressure, take back his executive action and finally admit he’s a Kenyan-born radical transported through time to bring American society to its knees? Will House Speaker John Boehner rise from his office tanning bed, march to the congressional clubhouse where ultra-conservative lawmakers make forts out of stacks of money and shout, “SERIOUSLY, GUYS?!?”

This is not a failure to govern on the part of Republicans. It’s an ingenious way to methodically push the political narrative forward and keep Americans enthralled.

Perhaps the wildly popular public radio podcast Serial — which drew millions of online listeners by using an episodic format — gave lawmakers this idea. Wherever the concept came from, it’s gold.

Following the Republicans’ “short-term decisions equal long-term drama” lead, Democrats should now restrict their legislative actions to a maximum of seven days.

For example, rather than flatly vetoing the GOP’s Keystone XL pipeline bill, Obama should have issued a special one-week veto. That would have given us days of delicious bickering between legislators, oil companies and environmentalists. Why watch The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills when you could see The Real Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statements for the Keystone XL Pipeline Project of the State Department?

Here’s the bottom line: Episodic politics would put plenty of butts on sofas and finally get Americans tuning in to what their government is doing or, in most cases, not doing.

What’s to lose? If the whole process is going to be ridiculous, it might as well be ridiculously good TV.

Rex Huppke is a columnist for the Chicago Tribune and a noted hypocrisy enthusiast. You can email him at rhuppke@tribune.com or follow him on Twitter at @RexHuppke.

Photo: Speaker John Boehner via Flickr