Senate Democrats blocked a motion Monday by conservative Republicans to “conference” with the House on the Senate’s “clean” bill to fund Homeland Security through the end of September. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and his number two, Sen. John Cornyn, both voted with the Democrats to send the “clean” bill to fund Homeland Security back to the House. Message delivered.
These procedural maneuverings served a purpose. Could Democrats save Boehner from his crazy caucus and fund Homeland Security?:
[T]his is confusing, but here goes: The House voted last week to “conference” with the Senate on the “clean” funding bill it passed. Conferencing is when House and Senate leadership aides get in a room and verbally work out the differences between their bills. During the conference, some House Republicans hoped they might add some of the anti-immigrant riders back into that “clean” bill that funds Homeland Security through Sept. 30. Senate Democrats can block (or filibuster) the motion to move to conference [they did so Monday].
At that point, House Democrats could invoke Rule XXII, which states, “When the stage of disagreement has been reached on a bill or resolution with House or Senate amendments, a motion to dispose of any amendment shall be privileged.”
The privileged thing is key because it would “trigger” a vote on the Senate’s “clean” bill. Roll Call explains:
In other words, any House lawmaker, arguing that a conference scenario is moot and won’t be resolved before the clock runs out on the current extension of DHS funding, could take to the floor and move that the House recedes from its previous position and concurs in the Senate amendment.
Democrats can theoretically use this rule to force a vote on the clean bill, so long as House Republicans don’t vote to suspend it, which is what they did during the government shutdown in 2013 to keep House Democrats from ending it. That worked out well for ’em.
In fact, the leader of the Tea-Publican anti-immigrant nativist and racist wing, Rep. Steve King (R-IA), was threatening a resolution to suspend the rule on Monday. Resolution text from his web site: “Resolved, That any motion pursuant to clause of rule XXII relating to the bill H.R. 240 may be offered only by the Majority Leader or his designee.”
The problem for “Mr. Cantaloupe Calves” is that Weeper of the House, John Boehner, still controls what comes to the floor of the House for a vote.
This morning after meeting with his Tea-Publican Caucus on a way forward with the DHS funding bill, the TanMan elected to cave and bring the “clean” DHS funding bill from the Senate up for a vote today. The Washington Post reports, House to vote on legislation to fully fund DHS:
The House will vote as soon as Tuesday afternoon on a bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security for the rest of the fiscal year. The measure will not target President Obama’s executive actions on immigration, giving Democrats what they have long demanded and potentially enraging conservatives bent on fighting the president on immigration.
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The bill is likely to to pass. It could win the support of many Democrats and some Republicans.
The decision marks a big win for Democrats, who have long demanded that Congress pass a “clean” bill to fund DHS free of any immigration riders. For weeks, Boehner (R-Ohio) and his top deputies have refused to take up such a bill, as conservatives have demanded using the DHS debate to take on Obama’s directives, which include action to prevent the deportations of millions of undocumented immigrants.
“Today, we have an opportunity, in a bipartisan way, to strengthen the homeland security of our nation. The Senate has voted in a bipartisan way and House Democrats have made it clear we support full, long-term funding,” said House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) in a statement.
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Boehner presented Republicans with three options: another stopgap bill, taking up a “clean” bill which has already passed the Senate, and a Friday-into-Saturday shutdown of DHS.
Boehner said because of threats facing the country, a shutdown would not be acceptable. And a stopgap bill probably would not pass, he said.
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Outside the halls of Congress, Boehner’s allies moved to pressure conservatives to fund DHS Tuesday. American Action Network, a nonprofit supportive of GOP leadership, launched an campaign against Republicans who have refused to do so. The ad campaign includes a TV, radio and online component. It targets several members of the House Freedom Caucus, including Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio).
Rep. John Fleming (R-La.), another member of the Freedom Caucus, which is a small group of hard-line conservatives who have clashed with Boehner, said that GOP leadership explained they could bring up the Senate-passed DHS bill by using an arcane procedural tactic under House Rule XXII.
Fleming said he would vote against the bill.
This months-long theater of the absurd was entirely predictable to end this way. As Greg Sargent of the Post wryly noted this morning:
Really, nobody could have predicted this outcome. Just as during the last few showdowns, we were told Boehner couldn’t possibly avert this crisis by passing something with a lot of Democrats, because he’d lose his Speakership. That won’t happen this time, either. Boehner is helpless! Except, you know, he actually isn’t.
The TanMan, Weeper of the House John Boehner, is the “Worst. Speaker. Ever.”