Republicans in the Senate have failed yet again to pass a bill that would put the brakes on President Obama’s executive action on immigration reform. The Senate held the third vote in as many days yesterday, attempting to grind down opposition from the Democrats but seeing the bill blocked yet again.
The Department of Homeland Security funding bill, which was passed by the House of Representatives last week, includes attachments that would not only block the president’s most recent executive action but also roll back the deferred action plan he enacted back in 2012. The continued votes are an attempt to both appease conservative Republicans and put pressure on the Democrats, who so far seem unimpressed by the bill or the tactics being used to try to force it through the Senate.
“We have these terrorist acts all over the world right now,” notes Nevada Democrat and Senate minority leader Harry Reid. “And we, the United States of America, are in a position where we’re not going to fund homeland security?” The only Republican to vote against the bill was Nevada Senator Dean Heller.
The chamber’s number two Republican, Texas Senator John Cornyn, admits that the Republicans will have little option but to change the bill if the Democratic Party continues to refuse to budge on the issue, which President Obama has already stated he will veto if Democrat Senate resistance was to crumble.