Yesterday the House passed a $40 billion dollar Homeland Security Department funding bill designed to roll back the president’s executive actions on immigration reform. Instead the bill serves to jeopardize the effectiveness of the security department at a time when threats against the country are escalating.
Chief among the funding cuts is an amendment that would defund the presidents’ Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (DACA) which provides work permits and protection from deportation for immigrants brought into the country illegally as children.
The bill faces an uphill battle in the senate and no hope of overcoming a presidential veto. But the delay ties the hands of the DHS at a time when tensions are heightened. White House intruders, the recent attacks in France on Charlie Hebdo and the two foiled plots against Speaker Boehner and the Capitol building have refocused the country’s attention on the necessity for strong security measures.
Republicans now control both the House and the Senate. They have promised to end the partisan gridlock that has reduced the legislative branch of the government to little more than a punch line on late night television. They have promised to pass meaningful legislation that moves the country forward. Using the DHS as a political pawn to thwart the president’s agenda is as hypocritical as it is dangerous.
If Republicans don’t like the president’s executive action on immigration reform then all they have to do is pass a comprehensive immigration reform bill and send it to the president to sign.
All they have to do is govern.
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