Shutdown averted: House votes to fund Homeland Security for full fiscal year

Chamber passes clean DHS funding bill without restrictions on President Obama's immigration directives

Published March 3, 2015 8:37PM (EST)

  (Reuters/Jim Bourg/Jonathan Ernst/<a href='http://www.shutterstock.com/gallery-130111p1.html'>Orhan Cam</a> via <a href='http://www.shutterstock.com/'>Shutterstock</a>/Photo montage by Salon)
(Reuters/Jim Bourg/Jonathan Ernst/Orhan Cam via Shutterstock/Photo montage by Salon)

The House of Representatives voted Tuesday afternoon to fund the Department of Homeland Security through the end of the fiscal year, staving off a showdown over President Obama's immigration directives and ensuring that the department would not shut down when its funding expired at the end of the week.

Hours after House Speaker John Boehner told members of the GOP caucus that he would bring the clean DHS funding measure to the floor, representatives passed the $40 billion bill 257 to 167, one week after the GOP-controlled Senate approved the measure.

Leadership-aligned conservatives hailed Boehner's move on Tuesday, with Rep. Peter King (R-NY) proclaiming, "Sanity is prevailing." But the restive Tea Party faction raised hackles, objecting that the measure did not seek to thwart Obama's executive actions offering deportation reprieves to up to 5 million unauthorized immigrants.

Last Friday, the country seemed headed toward a partial government shutdown after the House rejected a three-week continuing resolution to fund DHS in a stunning 203-224 vote. Hours later, Boehner secured passage of a one-week funding extension, and President Obama signed the legislation 10 minutes before DHS funding expired at midnight on Saturday. Tuesday's vote means that the department will be funded through September 30, when the 2015 fiscal year ends.


By Luke Brinker

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