Schumer: Boehner should ‘summon the courage’ to pass DHS bill

Senate Democrats on Friday said House Republicans are “game playing” by taking up a short-term funding bill for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

Sen. Charles Schumer (N.Y.), a member of Democratic leadership, said it is time to move past “politics” and fully fund the DHS, which runs out of money at midnight. He called on Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) to bring up a bill passed by the Senate on Friday that would fund the department through September.

“After weeks of unnecessary drama, the Senate has spoken in a loud, bipartisan way,” Schumer said during a press conference. “It’s time for Speaker Boehner to summon the courage to put it up for a vote.”  

{mosads}The House is poised to vote Friday on a bill that would only fund the Homeland Security Department through March 19. The stopgap bill is intended to buy time for a conference committee that could decide how to attack President Obama’s executive actions on immigration.

Though Schumer, as well as Sens. Tom Carper (D-Del.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) and Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.), all criticized House Republicans for moving forward with the stopgap legislation, they also said they will “reluctantly” support it in the Senate. 

“We’d much prefer they pass full funding,” Schumer told reporters. “Obviously, we’re not going to shut down the government. … We’ll support it, but very reluctantly.”

Carper added that “the problem with the continuing resolution … is that it puts us on autopilot.”

House Republicans signaled Thursday that they want to use the three weeks to go to conference with the Senate on the DHS bill. Democrats, led by Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), have vowed to block that from happening.

“We will not go to conference on some jury-rigged situation they send back,” Reid said from the Senate floor Friday morning. “The Senate is proving there is broad bipartisan support for a good bill that will fund the government and keep the government running.”

Schumer said that, by passing the short-term measure, Boehner is ensuring another fiscal cliff for the department next month.

“The Speaker’s short-term plan would bring us right back to Groundhog Day in three weeks,” the New York Democrat said. “For weeks, Speaker Boehner has been lost at sea, torn between what’s right and the hard right.”

He added that the Senate has offered Boehner a way out with the “clean” DHS bill.

“We hope over the next three weeks he comes to his senses and takes that life preserver,” he said.