DHS funding still hangs in the balance

Senate moves to decouple fight over immigration policy from Homeland Security, but resistance remains in House.    Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-KY, is working with Democrats on a clean funding bill for the Department of Homeland Security to avoid a partial shutdown of the department at the end of Friday, according to media reports from Capitol Hill. It remains highly uncertain, however, whether House Speaker John Boehner, R-OH, would bring such a bill to a vote in his chamber.
   Congress only passed a temporary funding bill last year through February – instead of the entire fiscal year – because congressional conservatives wanted to use the opportunity to rollback President Obama’s executive order to limit deportations of undocumented workers. Without new appropriations, a partial shutdown would ensue with administrative workers furloughed and “front-line” personnel, like airport screeners, having to work without pay until a resolution.
   Republican strategists are worried that their party could get blamed by voters for a shutdown and that the tough stance on immigration policy will further drive away the all-important Latino community during the 2016 presidential election.
   McConnell has proposed that the Senate vote on a bill to fund DHS and act separately to overturn Obama’s action on immigration. Boehner faces strong opposition from a group of hard-core lawmakers on the right who want to force Obama to retreat by defunding his amnesty policy, raising doubts whether a bill that passed the Senate would be seconded in the House. Others are willing to let the process get resolved in the courts after a federal judge in Texas last week ruled to block implementation of Obama’s plan. 
   Meanwhile, many Democrats are opposed to another short-term funding extension. DHS officials say a continuing resolution hurts the department’s effectiveness because it severely limits how money can be spent on new contracts, programs and grants. U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Gil Kerlikowske recently spoke out about the impact on border security if there is a partial shutdown.