Senate Begins DHS Spending Bill Debate, House Set to Pass Another Continuing Resolution

The Senate began a number of votes this morning on the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) funding bill, including on one amendment to strip House-passed language that defunds the president’s executive amnesties. The existing DHS continuing resolution expires at midnight tonight. The House is scheduled to take up another continuing resolution today to avert a funding gap.

Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., will offer the amendment to remove the House defunding language. After that, he will use a procedural move called “filling the amendment tree,” which will prevent other amendments from being offered. McConnell repeatedly slammed Sen. Harry Reid for using this procedure in previous Congresses. Now he is using it to thwart efforts by members of his own caucus to retain the defunding language.

Sens. Mike Lee, R-Utah, and Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., will motion to table the “amendment tree”. If successful, they will be able to offer an amendment that will add back in the defunding language if the McConnell amendment is successful.

The bill is on the floor today due to a deal between McConnell and Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., under which Democrats agreed to stop blocking debate on the DHS funding bill if McConnell agreed to strip the defunding language and if Democrats agreed to allow debate on separate legislation to defund the president’s 11/20/14 executive amnesty.

The House today will vote on a continuing resolution to extend DHS funding through March 19. The legislation is expected to include language that would try to force a conference committee between the original House-passed bill and the Senate’s version. The former would defund the president’s executive amnesties while the latter may well exclude such language.

Reid vowed to oppose such a conference committee with the House. “We are not going to be part of their petty games,” he said.

Read more in The Hill and The Washington Times.