Senate Democrats blocked the motion to negotiate
with the House on the Homeland Security funding bill that means that
John Boehner is both out of options and quickly running out of time on
his Homeland Security crisis.
The final vote 47-43. Republicans were 13 votes short of the number needed to move forward.
Before the vote Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) told House Republicans that Democrats weren’t going to take part in Boehner’s charade:
Senate Democrats do not support going to
conference because it will be counterproductive. Republicans have no
intention of using a conference to craft legislation that will pass both
Houses of Congress and prevent a shutdown of Homeland Security. House
Republicans want to take a bill that they negotiated, a bill that was
written by House and Senate Republicans and Democrats – a bipartisan,
bicameral bill – and turn it into something that cannot pass.
Senate Democrats will not be a party to yet
another Republican charade that will inevitably shut down the
Department of Homeland Security and put our nation at risk. The Senate
should reaffirm our bipartisan vote last Friday for a clean bill to
prevent a shutdown. We had 68 votes and we can do it again. We should do
it again.
Despite Boehner and the House Republican
leadership’s claims that no deal has been made, House Democrats are
telling their members that they will be voting on a clean funding bill
for Homeland Security this week. Democrats have the option of using an
obscure House rule to bring the bill to the floor for a vote, but it is
more likely that Speaker Boehner is going to cave.
Even
if Boehner doesn’t put the bill on the floor himself, it is clear that
an agreement has been reached between House Democrats and Republicans.
Speaker Boehner is running out of escape routes. Boehner doesn’t want to
shut down Homeland Security, but the clock is ticking, and Democrats
aren’t going to budge.
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