Excerpt: "The U.S. House of Representatives passed a short term funding bill Friday, that will keep the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) open for another week."
Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-Ohio), center, returns to his office after procedural votes for legislation to fund the Department of Homeland Security. (photo: Reuters)
US Narrowly Avoids DHS Shutdown
28 February 15
he U.S. House of Representatives passed a short term funding bill Friday, that will keep the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) open for another week.
The deal was secured just two hours before a midnight deadline that would have seen the DHS starved of cash.
The temporary deal will allow the agency to pay wages to its 250,000 employees while Congress battles over a longer term funding agreement.
An deal proposed earlier in the day that would have kept the agency afloat for three weeks was struck down by House Republicans because it failed to dismantle President Barack Obama's immigration reform. Under an executive order, ad many as 4 million undocumented migrants could be protected from forced deportation.The reforms enjoy widespread approval from the public, but have been staunchly opposed by Republicans.
The DHS funding is not only a key battleground in the Republican fight to scuttle immigration reform, but also the first fiscal measure to test the new, Republican-controlled Congress that was sworn in at the beginning of the year.
“Even though Republicans comfortably control the House and have a narrow advantage over Democrats in the Senate, intra-party disagreements have made for a chaotic two months, with the prospect of a partial government shutdown looming over Washington,” reported Reuters.
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