Key Dem: Republicans created ‘artificial’ DHS crisis

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) on Thursday sought to pressure House Republicans to back passing a “clean” bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

The Senate took a step toward passing a clean DHS bill Wednesday. Under a deal reached by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), the Senate is taking up a House-passed bill to fund the department, but McConnell will remove the bill’s provisions to undo President Obama’s actions on immigration.

{mosads}”It appears that finally we’ve come together on a bipartisan basis to fund this critical agency at the eleventh hour, but sadly there is no response from the House of Representatives,” the Illinois Democrat said from the Senate floor. “So now we run the real risk we will have to shut down this department… Now the ball is in the court of the Republicans in the House.”

But how the House would handle a “clean” spending bill is unclear. 

During a press conference Thursday, House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) stayed silent on what the House would do if the Senate, as expected, sends them a “clean” DHS funding bill. He said the House’s next steps would be revealed once the Senate passes its legislation.

“The House passed a bill six weeks ago. It’s time for the Senate to do its work,” he said.

Before the Reid-McConnell agreement, Senate Democrats blocked the House bill from being brought up four times.Durbin slammed Republicans for tying the funding bill to an effort to undo President Obama’s executive actions on immigration. 

Republicans have created an “artificial, unnecessary, dangerous funding crisis,” he said.