WASHINGTON — The House of Representatives approved full fiscal-year funding for the U.S. domestic security agency Tuesday, dealing a blow to conservative Republicans who had wanted the bill to include language blocking President Barack Obama’s recent executive orders on immigration.
The House, in a 257-167 vote, backed a Senate-passed funding bill stripped of any immigration provisions, ending a bitter fight that raised new questions about House Speaker John Boehner’s ability to manage fractious conservatives and brought the agency within hours of a partial shutdown last week.
In a statement Tuesday night, the White House said Obama will sign the bill as soon as he receives it.
Both of Maine’s representatives in Congress, Democrat Chellie Pingree and Republican Bruce Poliquin, voted in favor of the bills. Poliquin was one of just 75 members of the GOP majority in the House to vote with Democrats to pass the bill, while 167 of his Republican colleagues opposed it. No Democrats voted against passage.
In a statement, Poliquin said he would continue to fight Obama’s immigration actions, which he called “unconstitutional and dangerous,” but that the Department of Homeland Security shouldn’t be held hostage to that fight.
“With increasing threats from ISIL to the United States of America, and our allies around the world, it’s imperative for Congress to fund the Department of Homeland Security. We must do everything possible to protect Americans at home and abroad.
Pingree said she was pleased with the bill’s passage, but blasted congressional Republicans for stalling the issue so long.
“We could have done this a week ago, or even two months ago, and avoided the dangerous partisan spectacle that created so much uncertainty at such a crucial time,” she said.
Obama has said he will sign the funding bill for the Department of Homeland Security, which spearheads domestic counterterrorism efforts. Spending authority for the department was scheduled to end at midnight Friday.
After weeks of drama, Boehner was ultimately left with few — if any — viable procedural options to keep the agency open while also satisfying conservatives who wanted the funding bill to block Obama’s executive actions last year lifting the threat of deportation for millions of undocumented residents.
Senate Democrats had repeatedly blocked a House-passed bill that included the immigration provisions, while Obama and Democrats backed a “clean” funding bill passed by the Senate.
“It’s time to move forward and stop playing these silly games,” said Rep. Charlie Dent, a moderate Pennsylvania Republican. “Let’s prove to the American people that we’re serious about protecting this homeland and that we have the capacity to govern.”
Several Republicans said they would be better served by putting their energy into legal strategies to overturn Obama’s immigration actions, which have been put on hold by the courts.
“This is where we must focus our actions,” said Republican Rep. Mike Simpson of Idaho.
Capitulation?
But some conservatives said the House was making a mistake by capitulating on the immigration battle.
“This is a very, very sad day,” said Republican Rep. Matt Salmon of Arizona. “If we’re not going to fight now, when are we going to fight?”
On Friday, the House rejected a three-week funding extension and voted to keep the lights on at Homeland Security for one week, seeking more time to battle Obama. But Boehner told Republican House members at a meeting Tuesday that it was time to allow a vote on the provision-free Senate bill, which passed last week with the support of Maine Sens. Angus King, an independent, and Susan Collins, a Republican. Sen. Collins had authored a separate immigration bill as part of an effort to pass a provision-free Homeland Security funding act.
“The speaker made the case that he had hoped to continue to fight for three more weeks. Obviously we didn’t win that vote last week, so we are where we are,” said Rep. Luke Messer of Indiana, who chairs the Republican Policy Committee.
“It’s disappointing. I had hoped we’d be able to continue to fight,” he said.
Boehner allowed the use of a procedural motion to bring up the Senate’s funding bill, which passed the House with support from both moderate Republicans and House Democrats.
The bill provides nearly $40 billion in funding for the agency, created after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, that secures U.S. borders, airports, coastal waters and other critical facilities.
Without the funding, the agency would have been forced to furlough about 30,000 employees, or about 15 percent of the agency’s workforce, but about 200,000 others would have stayed on the job without pay, including airport and border security agents.
Boehner suffered an embarrassing setback last week when conservatives rebelled against his plan for a three-week extension, but some said they did not think his ultimate failure on the issue would threaten his leadership.
“I think anybody who’s been watching this knew this is where we were going to end up back in December,” said Rep. Thomas Massie, a conservative Republican from Kentucky.