Bush: ‘Makes no sense’ to let Homeland Security funding expire

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) said that it “makes no sense” to let the Department of Homeland Security’s funding run out, as Congress scrambles to agree on a compromise before the agency’s budget runs out Friday at midnight. 

{mosads}Questioned at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) by Fox News’s Sean Hannity, Bush said that President Obama “has gone way beyond his constitutional powers” in issuing executive actions to defer deportations for millions of undocumented immigrants. And he said that Congress has “every right” to assert their view that he overreached.

But he questioned the wisdom of letting the agency’s dollars dry up over the immigration battle.

“I’m not an expert on the ways of Washington, but it makes no sense to me that we are not funding control of our border,” Bush said.

Congressional Republicans are trying to navigate a narrow passage to find a way to fund the agency while also defunding those immigration measures. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) agreed to schedule votes on two bills: a “clean” bill to fund the agency in its entirety, and another to halt Obama’s immigration actions.

The vote on Obama’s policies failed to advance Friday in the Senate, while the “clean” bill passed. But the House is currently struggling to iron out its strategy, as the Republican leadership’s plan to pass a short-term funding extension is now in jeopardy.