Top Republicans disagree on how to fund Homeland Security Department

The Republican honeymoon is over on Capitol Hill.

A little more than a month after their party took full control of Congress, House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) are at odds over how to avoid shutting down the Department of Homeland Security amid a fight with President Obama over immigration reform.

For years, the GOP turmoil over how to handle their internal political and legislative differences has been confined to the House. But it is now spilling out across Capitol Hill after several weeks of careful coordination among Republicans that included passage of a bipartisan bill authorizing construction of the Keystone XL pipeline.

The impasse comes with only seven legislative days left on the calendar before funding for DHS expires. Republicans, bowing to conservative pressure, had insisted late last year on funding the department only through February hoping to gain leverage to counter Obamas use of executive authority to curtail deportations for many undocumented immigrants.

The House has passed a new spending plan that would repeal most of Obamas immigration decisions, but Senate Democrats have blocked it three times in recent days, leaving Republicans struggling to keep DHS open and avoid being blamed for forcing another partial government shutdown.

Its clear we cant go forward in the Senate, McConnell said Tuesday. He suggested the House might have to try again to write and pass a bill that would fund DHS and earn sufficient Democratic support to advance in the Senate, where Republicans have 54 seats but where 60 votes are needed for legislation to advance.

House Republicans strongly disagreed.

The pressure is on Senate Democrats who claim to oppose the presidents action but are filibustering a bill to stop it, said Michael Steel, a Boehner spokesman. Until there is some signal from those Senate Democrats what would break their filibuster, theres little point in additional House action.

Boehner and McConnell appeared briefly together on Tuesday but took no questions from reporters as they formally signed and sent the president legislation that passed overwhelmingly in recent days to help prevent military veterans suicides.

Their disagreement in strategy on DHS appeared to be trickling down to rank-and-file Republicans, who agreed that Democrats are at fault but disagreed on how the party should proceed.

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Top Republicans disagree on how to fund Homeland Security Department

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