WH: DHS Funding Bill 'Not Going to Pass the Senate'

By Susan Jones

(CNSNews.com) - President Obama's spokesman on Wednesday brushed off a Republican "protest" vote, saying a bill funding the Department of Homeland Security won't pass the Senate because of amendments blocking Obama's unilateral action on to change immigration law.

"Most observers of Congress who know more about Congress than I do don't think that this legislation, precisely because of this ideological rider, that it's not going to pass the Senate," Josh Earnest said. "Again, this rider is bad policy. It's bad politics. And, yes, we've made clear that if it were to reach the President's desk, that the President would veto it."

As CNSNews.com reported, the U.S. House of Representatives voted 236 to 191 Wednesday to approve full-year funding for the Department of Homeland Security. It also would block the Executive Branch from carrying out President Obama's unilateral amnesty for illegal aliens.

One of the immigration amendments, approved 237-190, prohibits any agency of the federal government from using any funds to carry out the expanded amnesty that President Obama ordered when Congress refused to change immigration law. No House Democrats voted for the Aderholt amendment to block Obama's amnesty. Seven Republicans voted against it.

A second amendment would delete Obama's 2012 policy that granted work permits and stays of deportation to more than 600,000 immigrants who arrived in the U.S. illegally as children. Twenty-six Republicans joined Democrats in voting against that measure, which narrowly passed on a vote of 218-209.
Earnest noted that "more than two dozen House Republicans" opposed one of the anti-amnesty amendments, and he said the Republican-led Senate also will balk:

"So I think the way that this plays out is that Republicans in the House are going to be back at square one in figuring out how they're going to fund the critically important operations of the Department of Homeland Security. And now seems like a particularly bad time to be mucking around with them."

According to Earnest, Obama's immigration "reform" plan "would bring accountability to our broken immigration system. It would give those with strong ties to this country the chance to come out of the shadows, get right with the law, submit to a background check, and pay taxes. The President's plan would also focus law enforcement resources on felons and others who pose a threat to public safety.

"If Republicans were to get their way, these individuals, including DREAMers who came to America through no fault of their own, would either be pushed back into the shadows, free of any accountability, or deported at great expense to taxpayers and at the expense of a concentrated effort to deport criminals. This vote is bad policy. It's essentially a vote for amnesty," he said, turning Republicans' own language against them. "It's also bad politics."

[Excerpted, rest at link above]

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