Senate Democrats Crush 4th Republican Attempt To Overturn Obama Immigration Action
Senate
Democrats turned up the heat on Boehner and McConnell by blocking the
fourth Senate Republican attempt to overturn President Obama’s
immigration actions by attaching it to the Homeland Security funding
bill.
Today’s
vote was just like the previous three. Republicans voted to move the
bill forward, except for Dean Heller of Nevada, while Democrats and
Independents stood united in opposition. The final vote was 47-46 in
favor, with Mitch McConnell voting no as a procedural move so that he
could bring the vote up again later.
Before
the vote, Sen. John Barrasso went through the same Republican talking
points that they tried to use during the previous three attempts to move
the bill forward. The only difference is that Barrasso added the ruling
by the Bush appointed partisan judge that blocked President Obama’s
executive action on immigration. Republicans tried to shift the focus
away from Homeland Security and towards immigration. Barrasso accused
Senate Democrats of, “Not understanding why they lost” the midterm
election and called on Democrats to, “stop defending the president and
the White House.”
Democratic
vice chair of the Appropriations Committee Sen,. Barbara Mikulski
(D-MD) called out Republicans and said, “We should be voting on a clean
Homeland Security bill.” She called out Republicans for playing politics
while the country faces some of our biggest homeland security
challenges right now. Mikulski contrasted the hypocrisy of Republicans
asking what is Obama doing to protect America while ignoring the “boots
on the ground” in this country who need funding. The Maryland senator
urged Republicans to put immigration aside and pass a clean Homeland
Security funding bill.
Democrat
Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) used the threat of an attack against her home
state Mall of America to hammer Republicans for jeopardizing national
security over the immigration language in the bill. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen
(D-NH) went after Republicans on the point that members of the Coast
Guard won’t be paid.
Republican
Sen. John Hoeven (R-ND) went with the standard Republican talking point
that Democrats are obstructing the bill while he ignored the Democrats’
issues with immigration riders in the bill.
With
days to go until Homeland Security shuts down, Senate Republicans have
their backs against the wall. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell will have
to quickly decide whether he will abandon the House Republican suicide
mission of trying to overturn President Obama’s executive action
immigration by tying it to Homeland Security funding, or if he is
finally willing to pass a clean Homeland Security funding bill.
It
is clear that the House Republican Homeland Security bill is going
nowhere fast. Unless Speaker John Boehner backs down at the last moment
and allows a clean vote on Homeland Security funding, it looks like the
agency is heading for a shutdown.
Republicans
tried to pick a fight with President Obama by tying Homeland Security
funding to overturning his immigration actions, and they are losing in a
big way. The ball is now in Boehner’s court, and if Homeland Security
shuts down, Republicans will be blamed.
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