At some point today the House of Representatives is expected to vote on an appropriations bill to fully fund the Department of Homeland Security through the rest of the fiscal year without anti-immigrant riders attached to it.
Speaker of the House John Boehner broke to news to his members this morning.
After laying out his new strategy Tuesday morning, Boehner asked three times whether anyone had any questions before he had to leave for his meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. No one said a word, according to members in the room.
But outside the meeting, conservatives blasted leadership’s decision to wave the white flag.
Make no mistake, John Boehner owns this extra large bucket of fail.
Boehner could have fully funded the department months ago along with the rest of the federal government, but he chose not to. And he could have fully funded the department last week before the initial deadline, but he chose not to.
There was never any doubt that Boehner could find enough votes between Republicans and Democrats to fund the department for the remainder of the fiscal year, but he chose not to do so until now.
Given how difficult it was for the Republican-controlled Congress to fund a security agency created by a Republican administration, I can't even imagine what will happen in September at the end of the fiscal year. In addition to funding the federal government for another year, the debt ceiling will also require attention.