Top Democrat rejects short-term DHS bill

House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer will not support a short extension to fund the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) until legal questions around President Obama’s immigration actions are answered, the Maryland Democrat said Thursday.

{mosads}“The CR, which gives very limited funding ability to the department, Jeh Johnson, the secretary, has made it very clear that this is undermining their ability to act now,” Hoyer said during an interview on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”

Johnson has been warning lawmakers that simply extending funding through a continuing resolution (CR) would be harmful to the agency and to national security.

After multiple filibusters in the Senate stymied any chance of the Republican-supported funding bill including immigration riders passing through Congress, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said he’d separate the two issues and hold separate votes: one on the general funding for DHS and one to halt the president’s immigration actions.

A federal court ruling last week complicated the issue, as a judge ruled that the administration must halt its implementation of those executive actions until courts decide on the programs’ legality. But Hoyer dismissed the notion of a short-term funding measure that would carry the department until a final decision and argued that defunding the policies won’t work, as many immigration operations are funded by fees from potential immigrants.

“The irony is, the court’s decision had nothing to do with that which they are going to defund,” he said.

“The visa department runs on fees — that is not going to be defunded.”