"WASHINGTON - Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Monday took a big step toward preventing a partial shutdown of Homeland Security with just four days left before funding for the agency expires.

McConnell, R-Ky., announced that he is essentially breaking off controversial immigration amendments from the bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security. Those amendments have been at the center of the impasse over a $40 billion spending bill for the agency.

McConnell is offering a bill that would bar federal funds from being used to carry out President Obama's executive actions to protect about 4 million undocumented immigrants from deportation and allow them to work legally in the USA.

That move should allow a separate DHS funding bill to move forward without the immigration provisions that have caused a stalemate in Congress and led to the looming shutdown at the agency.

"The new bill I described offers another option we can turn to," McConnell said. "It's another way to get the Senate unstuck from a Democrat filibuster and move the debate forward."

McConnell offers way out of Homeland Security impasse

"McConnell announced his bill just minutes after Senate Democrats succeeded for the fourth time in blocking the DHS funding bill. Democrats objected to House-passed amendments that would cut off all funding for Obama's immigration programs."

""This vote (on MccConnell's bill) will highlight the irresponsible hypocrisy of any Senate Democrat who claims to oppose President Obama's executive overreach on immigration, but refuses to vote to stop it," said spokesman Michael Steel. "If we are going to work together on the American people's priorities, Washington Democrats must be honest with the people they represent."

PERTINENT to this.....

"Abbott added in the Feb. 17, 2015, interview: "22 times Barack Obama said he did not have the authority to implement this type of measure. And then the day after he signed this into law, he said, quote, ‘I just changed the law.’ Those words alone show that he violated the Constitution and violated federal law."

Greg Abbott says 22 times Barack Obama said he couldn't shield immigrants, then said 'I changed law' | PolitiFact Texas

"We looked into Abbott’s count of 22 and his quotation, ultimately finding his statement close to completely so."

"And what the state filed that day included a version of the Obama quotation we’re looking into: "What you’re not paying attention to is, I just took an action to change the law." Speaking to reporters, Abbott commented: "The president’s job is to execute the laws, not de facto make law by suspending parts of laws that are passed by Congress."

"Here’s what Obama replied, according to the government transcript:

"I've heard you. But you’ve got to listen to me, too. All right? (Applause.) And I understand you may disagree. I understand you may disagree. But we've got to be able to talk honestly about these issues. All right?

Now, you're absolutely right that there have been significant numbers of deportations. That's true. But what you're not paying attention to is the fact that I just took action to change the law. (Applause.) So that's point, number one."

[B]"Abbott said that 22 times, Obama "said he did not have the authority to implement this type of" anti-deportation "measure. And then the day after he signed this into law, he said, quote, ‘I just changed the law.’"

Like McCaul, Abbott overstates the number of confirmed instances of Obama indicating he couldn’t independently do more to prevent deportations. He also left out some of what Obama said about changing the law and was slightly off on the president’s timing. With these clarifications, though, Abbott’s statement is spot-on.

We rate the claim Mostly True."[/B]

I am pleased to see McConnell come up with an alternative plan to fund the Dept of Homeland Security. It is that department which is charged with protecting us from terrorism which is certainly in the news now. Obama's authority to prioritize which crimes to investigate and prosecute will be litigated, first round to those who oppose his action with the decision in texas.

However, shutting down DHS because you oppose his policy puts us all in increased danger. So good for McConnell in separating these issues. So now the Senate will pass a clean funding bill and it will have to go back to the House. We will see if there are enough sane people serving there to stop this shutdown.

Originally Posted by Guest

I am pleased to see McConnell come up with an alternative plan to fund the Dept of Homeland Security. It is that department which is charged with protecting us from terrorism which is certainly in the news now. Obama's authority to prioritize which crimes to investigate and prosecute will be litigated, first round to those who oppose his action with the decision in texas.

However, shutting down DHS because you oppose his policy puts us all in increased danger. So good for McConnell in separating these issues. So now the Senate will pass a clean funding bill and it will have to go back to the House. We will see if there are enough sane people serving there to stop this shutdown.

A vote for funding of DHS, without collateral am
endments on other unrelated topics is a vote for America's safety. Any other vote is a partisan political vote of stupidity, and we all know who excels at that.

[B]"WASHINGTON -- Almost as quickly as it came about, a plan from Senate Republican leaders to avert a shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security has hit a snag.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) announced Tuesday the chamber would move on a full-year DHS funding bill without measures to restrict President Barack Obama's immigration policies, which have so far hindered the passage of a bill that would keep the department from shutting down on Feb. 27. The Senate will also vote on a separate bill to stop Obama's 2014 executive actions on immigration.

But the plan was quickly questioned by Democratic leaders, who said they don't want to move forward on even a clean DHS funding bill unless there are assurances from House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) that he's on board."[/B]

Senate Republicans Offer Deal On DHS Funding

""The Speaker has been clear: the House has acted, and now Senate Democrats need to stop hiding. Will they continue to block funding for the Department of Homeland Security or not?" Boehner spokesman Michael Steel said in an emailed statement after McConnell's announcement."

Obama not much of a president but a much better poker player then the opposing party. He makes them look like Keystone Cops everytime.

Originally Posted by Guest

Obama not much of a president but a much better poker player then the opposing party. He makes them look like Keystone Cops everytime.

"U.S. President Barack Obama was elected in 2008 as a politician, and he's on pace to finish his presidency as one, rather than as the statesman many presumed he would become.

As it currently stands, his accomplishments aren't likely to remain historically memorable -- except in the way that a natural disaster might be considered historically memorable. Obama and his supporters might try to blame Republicans for being "obstructionist" in doing their job as the opposition party, but that's a cop-out. No leader of any democracy has ever sailed through a term in office unopposed.

Leadership, legacy-building and long-term vision are the traits of a statesman. By contrast, tactical jockeying to score short-term ideological points is the behavior of a politician."

Will Obama Finish As A Statesman Or A Politician?

Originally Posted by Guest

Obama not much of a president but a much better poker player then the opposing party. He makes them look like Keystone Cops everytime.

Finally!!!!

See how everything turns in Obama Derangement Syndrome? A thread about a legislative effort to fund the DHS. The right wing of the GOP in the House insists on adding defunding of Obama's executive actions as an amendment even though they know it is a poison pill. The moderates in the GOP (there still are a few remaining) cave as this is an issue that surely will come back in the next primary. The Senate knows it cannot pass the bill and nonetheless it is brought up for a vote using the House language and it fails to pass 3 times. McConnell says he will separate the issues into two bills and people can vote on the two issues while not shutting down homeland security.

And here on this forum it turns into another attack on Obama. He has nothing whatsoever to do with the language in these bills but apparently you think his Kenyan Muslim mind control tricks are making the GOP write bills making them threaten to shut down the government.

Originally Posted by Guest

See how everything turns in Obama Derangement Syndrome? A thread about a legislative effort to fund the DHS. The right wing of the GOP in the House insists on adding defunding of Obama's executive actions as an amendment even though they know it is a poison pill. The moderates in the GOP (there still are a few remaining) cave as this is an issue that surely will come back in the next primary. The Senate knows it cannot pass the bill and nonetheless it is brought up for a vote using the House language and it fails to pass 3 times. McConnell says he will separate the issues into two bills and people can vote on the two issues while not shutting down homeland security.

And here on this forum it turns into another attack on Obama. He has nothing whatsoever to do with the language in these bills but apparently you think his Kenyan Muslim mind control tricks are making the GOP write bills making them threaten to shut down the government.

All the discussion about funding DHS in this forum and in Washington makes me smile as all offering opinions have no skin in game. We have no money invested just grandkids credit cards. If you look up deadbeat in Websters it is a pretty good definition of what America has become.