US DHS heading to shutdown as temporary funding bill botched
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E-mail Xinhua, February 28, 2015
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) was heading toward a partial shutdown at midnight Friday as the House failed to pass a short-term funding bill for the department.
The three-week funding bill, which would fund the DHS through March 19, was botched in a 203-224 vote. The result further complicated the department's evolving funding crisis.
Fifty-two Republicans broke with their leadership to oppose the bill. Conservative Republicans in the House said they would not pass any DHS funding bill, even a temporary one, because such bills would leave President Barack Obama's contested 2014 executive actions on immigration intact.
Earlier this month, the House passed a funding bill that would also block Obama's 2014 immigration policies. The bill had been repeatedly blocked by Senate Democrats, who demanded a clean DHS funding bill.
To break the Senate stalemate, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell earlier this week offered a two-vote plan, which entailed a clean DHS funding bill and another separate bill focusing on Obama's immigration policies.
The Senate passed the clean funding bill, but up till now, it was still unknown whether House Speaker John Boehner would put the clean bill up for a vote in the House.
Without further actions by U.S. lawmakers, the DHS would run out of money at midnight Friday. As a result, 30,000 department workers would be granted a temporary leave while another 200,000, regarded as essential, would have to work without pay till the disputes were solved.
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