WASHINGTON (AP) – Divided Republicans are searching for a way out of an impasse over immigration that is threatening to shut down the Homeland Security Department within days.
With the agency’s budget set to expire Friday at midnight without action by Congress, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced Monday he would split language overturning President Barack Obama’s contested immigration measures from the department’s funding bill.
The move seemed aimed at pressuring Senate Democrats who have opposed the legislation because the immigration language is included. It also would allow Republicans who oppose Obama’s executive actions on immigration to register their opposition with a stand-alone vote. But Senate Democrats were quick to point out it left unanswered the question of how to fund the Homeland Security Department.
“This proposal doesn’t bring us any closer to actually funding DHS, and Republicans still have no real plan to achieve that goal,” said Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.
In the wake of a federal court’s ruling last week saying Obama overstepped his authority, and putting his immigration programs on hold, a growing number of Senate Republicans argued for letting the immigration fight play out in court, and passing a “clean” bill to fund Homeland Security, free of the language on immigration.