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Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., left, and Speaker of the House John Boehner, R-Ohio.(Photo: J. Scott Applewhite, AP)
WASHINGTON — Pressure is mounting on the House to keep the Department of Homeland Security funded as the Senate moves to a vote Thursday to pass a $40 billion spending bill aimed at preventing a partial shutdown of the agency.
Funding for the department will expire at midnight Friday, and it's possible lawmakers may have to work through the weekend to complete work on the spending bill.
The Senate broke its partisan gridlock on the bill Wednesday when Senate Democrats agreed to a compromise offered by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.
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McConnell promised to strip the DHS spending bill of controversial House-passed amendments that would block President Obama's executive action on immigration. He plans a separate vote on the immigration provisions.
Some conservatives in the House blasted that deal as caving in to the White House, and they vowed not to pass the Senate bill. Thirty House Republicans — led by Rep. Jeff Duncan, R-S.C. — wrote a letter Wednesday to House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and other GOP leaders, urging them to stand firm against Obama's immigration action.
"This letter should serve as a continued call to arms," the members wrote. "Congress must continue to stand firm against this president's overreach."
Obama issued executive orders in November to protect about 4 million undocumented immigrants from deportation and allow them to work legally in the USA.
Last month, the House passed a DHS spending bill after adding amendments that would derail the president's immigration actions. Senate Democrats blocked the House-passed bill four times this month because they opposed the immigration riders.
Democrats joined with most Republicans on Wednesday to vote 98-2 to advance the bill after McConnell announced he would remove the riders.
The "clean" spending bill is likely to pass the Senate easily Thursday. It will be followed by a vote Friday on a separate Senate bill to defund Obama's immigration programs.
McConnell advanced the spending measure despite opposition from conservatives and no assurances that Boehner would bring it up for a vote. Even if Boehner does bring it up, he is under pressure from conservatives to restore the immigration riders. There is little time for the House to consider the bill before Homeland Security funding expires at midnight Friday.
"Until the Senate does something, we're in wait-and-see mode," Boehner said after a private House GOP meeting Wednesday morning.
Senate Democrats warned House Republican leaders that they will be to blame for a partial DHS shutdown if they refuse to approve the Senate's compromise bill.
"We have to make sure there are no tricks and no double-crosses in the House," said Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich.
If House Republicans don't go along with the Senate deal, they will be responsible for cutting off DHS grants that help fund police and fire departments when there are "threats all around us, new threats every day," Stabenow said.
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Boehner has declined to weigh in on McConnell's plan to approve the DHS funding bill, then vote separately on a bill by Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, to block Obama's executive orders. The Collins bill is unlikely to overcome a Democratic filibuster, but it would put senators on record on the issue.
Since Republicans won full control of Congress in the midterm elections, McConnell has repeatedly vowed there would be no more government shutdowns on his watch.
Boehner has been less adamant about a shutdown — a nod to the pressures he faces from conservatives who say the party should fight at all costs to block Obama's immigration actions.
"Sen. McConnell has a big job to do, and so do I," Boehner said. He told his colleagues he has not spoken to his Senate counterpart in two weeks, underscoring he was not part of McConnell's decision to advance a "clean" bill.
House Democrats said they are poised to help advance the bill if Boehner will overrule his party's immigration hard-liners to reach a compromise. Every House Democrat has said they would support the DHS funding bill, and Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., said enough Republicans have indicated they could support it to get it passed despite significant conservative opposition.
"All the speaker has to do is indicate that he's prepared to put aside the gamesmanship and vote for a clean funding bill for the Department of Homeland Security," Van Hollen told CNN.
Lawmakers said the impasse will probably spill into the weekend.
"We may have some late nights and early mornings this week," said Rep. John Carter, R-Texas.
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