March 3, 2015

McSally, 4 Arizona Democrats Favor Funding Homeland Security

4 of state's Republican congressmen say no to measure that assures operations through September.

Republican U.S. Rep. Martha McSally of Tucson and Arizona's four Democratic members of Congress voted Tuesday to fund the Department of Homeland Security through September. Arizona's other four Republican congressmen voted against it.

It passed 257-167, and with that, House Republicans' hopes of defunding President Barack Obama's executive actions on immigration evaporated.

That effort had kept the department's budget in limbo for more than a week. One version passed the House in February, including language to defund Obama's actions.

Senate Democrats blocked the measure, saying they wanted the defunding language removed. The impasse lasted until hours before the funding was to run out last Friday. Congress passed a one-week extension.

Without the extension, department officials estimated that up to 30,000 "nonessential" employees would be furloughed. The "essential" employees, including Border Patrol officers and Transportation Security Administration officers at airports, would have had to work without pay.

The Senate passed a bill funding the department but without the language blocking Obama and sent it to the House, where conservative Republicans again tried to block it.

Republicans have said they consider Obama's executive action unconstitutional because it usurps Congress' authority to make laws governing immigration. The president has claimed he has the authority.

House Speaker John Boehner called it for a vote Tuesday, and 75 Republicans joined 182 Democrats in supporting it. No Democrats voted against it.

Obama's action, announced in November, would extend his deferred deportation to as many as 5 million people living in the country illegally, including parents of U.S. citizens.

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