GOP Bombs On Homeland Security

In a squishy and unsatisfying resolution that funds Homeland Security for a week, the GOP’s internal tensions bubble to the surface once again.

It used to be that Congress was broken, and was forced to repeatedly kick the can down the road. Now it seems that Congress can’t even properly kick the can down the road.

At a time of alarming national security threats, the House of Representatives brought the nation to the brink of a government shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security.

On Friday evening, dozens of conservative Republicans revolted against a plan push the deadline back three weeks, joining with Democrats to vote down a simple funding bill to continue the agency’s funding.

Conservative Republicans objected because they wanted Congress to rebuke President Obama over his immigration executive action, which they view as an illegal “amnesty.” Democrats protested because they wanted a “clean,” long-term spending bill that would provide certainty for the Department of Homeland Security. In the end, neither got what they wanted.

With less than two hours to go before the DHS funding expired, Congress managed the most modest of feats: punting the issue for seven days. Which means that a week from now, the agency responsible the nation’s security will once again be on the brink of losing its funding and forced to furlough thousands of employees.

Instead of rebuking Obama, it was Speaker John Boehner who was embarrassed as conservatives in his caucus once again showed how little control he has over the far-right Tea Party faction in the House.

In the hours before the vote, the House was in chaos, adding to the anxiety that thousands of Homeland Security employees must feel, watching C-SPAN from home while Congress voted on whether they would be paid next week.

 “I’m not happy with the body of which I am a member, but the only way we’re going to do things is compromising, and on something like this, there’s not much room: either we fund DHS or we don’t,” Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver told The Daily Beast.

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