(Bloomberg) -- Leaders of the U.S. Congress start the week in the position they were in at the end of last week: They have just a few days to avert a partial shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security with no funding solution in sight.
Republicans and Democrats traded more blame Sunday for the lack of progress to finance the agency’s operations, even as the new March 6 deadline approaches. Neither party budged from its stance on whether funds should be tied to reversing President Barack Obama’s November immigration orders, and leaders continued to snipe about whether promises were made about advancing a long-term bill.
Complicating the week’s schedule is Tuesday’s address to Congress by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and a threatened long-shot maneuver by some Republicans to weaken House Speaker John Boehner’s hold on his position.
Boehner said no deal has been struck with Democrats to resolve the funding standoff. The House passed the stopgap spending bill, H.R. 33, on a 357-60 vote Friday with Democratic support. Hours earlier, 52 of Boehner’s majority Republicans refused to back a three-week funding bill.
“We get in an argument over tactics from time to time,” Boehner, an Ohio Republican, said Sunday on CBS News’s “Face the Nation” when asked whether members of his own party were undermining efforts to find a resolution to the funding impasse.
‘Regular Order’
As to whether House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, had extracted a pledge to get a vote on a measure to fund the agency through September, Boehner said “the promise I made to Ms. Pelosi is the same promise that I made to Republicans -- that we would follow regular order.”
On Friday, Pelosi urged members of her party to support an extension of Homeland Security funding, saying in a letter to colleagues “your vote tonight will assure that we will vote for full funding next week” for the agency.
In response to Boehner’s comments Sunday, Pelosi released a statement asserting that internal Republican Party dysfunction is the reason why such a funding agreement hasn’t been reached.
“While a trio of GOP leaders did their best on Sunday shows to shift the blame for their dangerous internal chaos, it has never been more clear that the House must take up and pass full funding of the Department of Homeland Security,” Pelosi said in the statement.
Funding for Homeland Security operations is again set to expire after Friday. Without new spending, thousands of employees will be furloughed or required to work without pay.
Immigration Orders
House Republicans want to use the Homeland Security funding bill to block Obama’s November orders that shielded about 5 million undocumented immigrants from deportation. Boehner said Sunday Republicans are unified on the main goal of stopping Obama’s “overreach” with regard to immigration.
The short extension ensures that the issue will continue to dominate a calendar that Republican leaders wanted to fill with debate over policy priorities such as job creation and curbing business regulations. Instead, Republicans are mired in an immigration debate that risks alienating Latino voters ahead of the 2016 presidential and congressional elections. Obama has threatened to veto any reversal of his orders.
Boehner acknowledged Sunday that the 203-224 defeat of the three-week funding bill was difficult for him. “Friday wasn’t a whole lot of fun,” he said.
“Oh, it was just messy, and I am not into messy,” said Boehner. “Listen, I enjoy being in a legislative body. I enjoy all the personalities. And I’ve (the House has) got a lot of ’em.”
Republican Frustration
Some rank-and-file House Republicans worried that Boehner may abandon their demands to block Obama’s immigration actions as part of any Homeland Security spending bill are threatening a long-shot maneuver to weaken his hold on the post.
The procedural move to declare his office “vacant,” while almost certain to fail, would further demonstrate the depth of frustration with Boehner among Republicans who have challenged his leadership before. It would show how weakened Boehner has become and how difficult it may be for this Congress to get much accomplished.
“The sad part is that there is a group of people here who are trying to use the Homeland Security appropriations bill to advance their crass, inside-the-Beltway, palace coup,” Representative Charlie Dent of Pennsylvania, who co-chairs a group of moderate House Republicans, said in an interview.
Anti-Boehner Faction
Dent said anti-Boehner rebels in the House Republican conference have been spreading the word to fellow members about the possibility of starting the procedural maneuver, and such discussion gained momentum after Friday’s votes.
The potential for a motion to remove Boehner as speaker stems from “The Jefferson Manual,” written by Thomas Jefferson when he was vice president and used by the House as a supplement to its standing rules. It states, “A Speaker may be removed at the will of the House and a Speaker pro tempore appointed.”
A majority of House members present and voting would be required to oust the speaker. Before that vote could be taken, a series of procedural steps are required, and those earlier votes would require help from House Democrats to pass.
Meanwhile, the two parties continue to blame each other for the standoff over funding for the Homeland Security Department. Along with Boehner his top two lieutenants, Representatives Kevin McCarthy of California and Steve Scalise of Louisiana, appeared on Sunday talk shows and said Democrats are at fault for blocking a deal because they insist on a measure that doesn’t address Obama’s immigration actions.
‘Actually Passed’
“We actually passed a bill that pushes back on the president’s illegal actions on immigration,” said Scalise, appearing on Fox News Sunday. Yet, he said, the Senate “made changes to that bill that we don’t like.”
Scalise, as did Boehner, said regular legislative order now calls for the differences to be ironed out in a two-chamber conference, “the way Congress works when the House and Senate have a disagreement -- you go to conference.”
Democrats oppose tying agency funding to immigration policy. They also oppose a House-Senate conference to address changes to the funding bill.
Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said Feb. 26 that a partial shutdown of his agency would require 30,000 Homeland Security employees to be furloughed and 170,000 essential personnel to keep working without pay.
The Homeland Security Department includes the Coast Guard, Secret Service, Customs and Border Protection, Transportation Security Administration and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
McConnell’s Stance
The fight comes less than two months after Republicans took control of both chambers of Congress. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, has said the party must show that it can govern and that there will be no government shutdowns like the 16-day one in October 2013 over some Republicans’ attempts to defund Obamacare.
McConnell decided the Senate would consider blocking Obama’s immigration orders in a separate bill, which is backed by Republicans and opposed by most Democrats. He scheduled a procedural vote on that measure for Monday.
Scalise Sunday called on conservatives who are frustrated “to light up the Senate switchboard,” to “make those Senate Democrats feel the heat who have been standing with the president on his illegal actions.”
Scalise, who is the chief vote-counter for House Republicans, dismissed the notion that turmoil within the party could put Boehner’s leadership in jeopardy. Rather, he echoed Boehner’s remarks Sunday, saying internal tensions amount to differences on “tactics” rather than goals.
To contact the reporter on this story: Billy House in Washington at bhouse5@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Jodi Schneider at jschneider50@bloomberg.net Gregory Mott
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