WASHINGTON — On a day of high drama, the Republican-controlled Congress passed legislation late Friday to keep the Department of Homeland Security in full funding for one week and avert a partial shutdown threatened for midnight.
The Senate cleared the measure less than four hours before the deadline that would trigger a partial shutdown at the agency with anti-terrorism responsibilities. The House followed two hours later with a 357-60 vote. The bill was signed by President Barack Obama.
A few hours earlier, 52 rebellious House Republicans — including Colorado Rep. Doug Lamborn — unexpectedly joined with Democrats to vote down a three-week funding bill. The vote was 224-203.
Conservatives were furious that the leadership had dropped provisions repealing Obama administration directives that shield immigrants from deportation. Democrats demanded longer-term funding as their price for passage.
“You have made a mess,” said House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi to Republicans as the vote neared.
In the aftermath, even some Republicans agreed.
“There are terrorist attacks all over the world and we’re talking about closing down Homeland Security. This is like living in a world of crazy people,” tweeted Rep. Peter King of New York, a former chairman of the Homeland Security Committee.
The debacle in the House set a chain of events in motion.
Homeland Security officials circulated a lengthy contingency plan indicating that about 30,000 employees could expect to be furloughed without passage of funding legislation.
Then the White House announced that Obama had spoken with Pelosi and Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid. Moments later, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky strode onto the floor and swiftly gained approval for the seven-day measure.
Taken together, the day’s roller-coaster events at the Capitol underscored the difficulty Republicans have had this year in translating last fall’s election gains into legislative accomplishment.
A combination of conservative, Tea Party-backed Republicans on one side of the political aisle and Democrats on the other brought down the three-week funding measure.
The first group was upset because the legislation had been stripped of changes to Obama’s directives that shield millions of immigrants from the threat of deportation. Democrats opposed the bill in overwhelming numbers because it lacked a full year of funding for the sprawling department.
Pelosi and other Democrats urged Republicans both before and after the vote to allow debate on legislation to fund the department through the Sept. 30 end of the budget year — a step the GOP high command has so far refused to take.
The bill might get enough Democratic votes to pass, but at the same time had the potential to drive away Republicans.
“It does not make any difference whether the funding is for three weeks, three months or a full fiscal year. If it’s illegal, it’s illegal,” said Rep. Mo Brooks, R-Ala.
The day’s developments occurred against a midnight deadline for funding the department.
An early 240-183 test vote in the House indicated ample support for the spending bill, but a short while later, the House was gaveled into recess while the search went on for support to pass the legislation itself.
Some House Republicans said the strategy of passing a short-term measure and seeking negotiations on a longer-term bill that included changes in Obama’s immigration policy was flawed. They noted that Senate Democrats had demonstrated their ability to block any challenges to Obama’s immigration policies and that the president had vowed to veto them in any event.
How they voted
The Colorado House delegation was divided on the bill to fund the Homeland Security Department for one week. A “yes” vote is a vote to pass the bill.
Yes: Democrats Diana DeGette, Ed Perlmutter and Jared Polis; Republicans Ken Buck and Scott Tipton
No: Republican Doug Lamborn
Not voting: Republican Mike Coffman
