DHS fundingNot enough senators would vote to override presidential veto of DHS defunding

Published 12 January 2015

A late 2014 Republican strategy to fund DHS only through February in hopes of using further funding as a lever to change immigration policies once Republicans controlled both houses of Congress, may meet a dead end as Republican amendments to President Barack Obama’s DHS funding request will need sixty votes to clear the Senate. Senate Republicans will need at least six democrats or Democratic-leaning independents to vote yes to the Republican-led DHS funding bill.

A late 2014 Republican strategy to fund DHS only through February in hopes of using further funding as a lever to change immigration policies once Republicans controlled both houses of Congress, may meet a dead end as Republican amendments to President Barack Obama’s DHS funding request will need sixty votes to clear the Senate. Senate Republicans will need at least six democrats or Democratic-leaning independents to vote yes to the Republican-led DHS funding bill.

The Wall Street Journal reports that several senators who may have been critical of Obama’s executive action on immigration would refuse to support efforts that block DHS funding. “I’m not looking for a political fight. I’m looking to solve a problem,” Senator Heidi Heitkamp (D-North Dakota) said in a statement. Senator Angus King (I-Maine) is also opposed to such efforts. “Sen. King does not support the House bill to defund the president’s executive action on immigration,” said his spokeswoman, Kathleen Connery Dawe. “Withholding funds from the Department of Homeland Security would be particularly dangerous at a time of worldwide terrorist threats.”

Senator Claire McCaskill (D-Missouri) believes “the only responsible way for Republicans to supersede this executive order is to finally consider, debate and vote on comprehensive immigration reform,” said an aide. Aides to Senators Joe Manchin (D-West Virginia) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-New Hampshire) also said the senators oppose defunding Obama’s immigration action. For Senator Jon Tester (D-Montana), using the DHS funding bill to eliminate Obama’s executive order is off limits. “If the House had passed the comprehensive, bipartisan immigration bill that the Senate passed a year and a half ago, we wouldn’t be having this conversation right now. I wish the president wouldn’t have gone out on his own, but threatening the Department of Homeland Security’s budget doesn’t solve the immigration crisis or strengthen our borders,” Tester said in a statement. Senator Joe Donnelly (D-Indiana) did note that he would look at the Republican proposal before making any decisions.

Obama will likely exercise his veto should Republicans manage to get both houses of Congress to pass their version of the DHS funding bill. The Journal notes that Republicans, however, do not have the votes in either houses to override that veto. House Republicans are seeking to rollback Obama’s plan to halt deportations of roughly five million undocumented immigrants, and kill the 2012 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.

For some House Republicans, the prospect that the DHS funding bill would fail in the Senate should not be a concern. During a meeting with House Republicans last Friday, “there was a lot of discussion about not worrying so much these days about the Senate,” said Representative Mick Mulvaney (R-South Carolina). “Let’s quit trying to second guess what the Senate’s going to do and let’s do our job and then work it out from there,” said Representative Matt Salmon (R-Arizona).