Obama and Democrats Crush Boehner As House Passes Clean Homeland Security Bill

John Boehner was handed a devastating defeat by being forced by Democrats to give President Obama exactly what he wanted. The House passed a clean bill to fund Homeland Security for the rest of the year.

The final vote was 257-167. Seventy-four Republicans voted for the motion, and no Democrats voted against it.

Before the vote, Boehner tried to put a happy face on his crushing defeat. According to Politico, Boehner said, “I am as outraged and frustrated as you at the lawless and unconstitutional actions of this President. I believe this decision – considering where we are – is the right one for this team and the right one for this country. The good news is that the president’s executive action has been stopped, for now. This matter will continue to be litigated in the courts, where we have our best chance of winning this fight.”

Those who follow politics have seen this script play out many times before. House Republicans took the country to the brink of crisis. Boehner and company promise that they won’t yield, but in the end, the Speaker ends up giving President Obama and the Democrats exactly what they wanted.

If Speaker Boehner was trying to bury his latest cave underneath Netanyahu’s speech to Congress today, it didn’t work. House Republicans are the perpetual dogs who are always chasing their tails. The pointless wheel spinning in the House is why the so little legislation gets passed that has the potential to become law. Boehner’s House is so busy pandering and making ideological statements through symbolic votes that they are left with no time to and little interest in governing.

Voters, in mostly red states, gave Republicans control of Congress. What they have seen is the continuation of the same behavior that the Republicans blamed on Harry Reid when Democrats controlled the Senate. It has become painfully obvious even to those in the mainstream press who shy away from criticizing Republicans that the new GOP congressional majority is a dysfunctional embarrassment.

President Obama and the Democrats got exactly what they wanted. Homeland Security has been funded for the rest of the year, and the president’s immigration executive orders remain legislatively untouched.

Democrats are a strong and united party, and it is clear that it is President Obama and liberal Democrats who are firmly setting the agenda for the floundering Republican majority that is being haplessly led by Mitch McConnell and John Boehner.