As expected, the Senate rejected negotiating with the House on a Department of Homeland Security funding bill that would roll back President Barack Obama’s executive actions on immigration.
The Senate blocked the formation of a conference committee on a 47-43 procedural vote that was short of the 60 votes required to pass.
The House and the Senate Friday each passed one-week funding bill that averted a partial DHS shutdown. That was done after the House failed to pass a three-week DHS funding measure while the Senate approved a bill to finance the department through September.
A combination of House Republicans, who wanted riders in the bill attacking Obama’s immigration moves, and Democrats, who wanted a DHS bill minus the immigration provisions, combined to deliver House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and his leadership team a stunning defeat Friday night.
The Senate’s action Monday wasn’t a surprise. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., proclaimed the conference idea dead when House Republicans brought it up last week.
‘Senate Democrats and Republicans joined together to send a message to House Republicans by voting to send a clean, yearlong Homeland Security funding bill back to the House for a second time in four days,’ said Adam Jentleson, a Reid spokesman. ‘Pass a clean bill now to avert a Homeland Security shutdown. Let’s resolve this completely avoidable crisis and move on.’
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