The House of Representatives controls Government funding. Nice to see them exercising this with a bit of backbone.
From National Journal:
John Boehner Blows Kisses to the Press, Won't Budge on DHS
With less than two days to go before a Homeland Security Department shutdown, John Boehner isn't blinking.
"We passed a bill to fund the department six weeks ago. Six weeks ago!" the House speaker said during a press conference Thursday. "It's time for the Senate to act. How many times do I have to say it?"
Boehner doesn't appear to be going along with his Republican counterparts in the Senate, where Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is looking to avert a shutdown by offering Democrats a clean funding bill for DHS. The speaker would not say whether he would back a Senate funding bill without provisions that would defund President Obama's executive actions on immigration. At one point, Boehner blew kisses at reporters after they asked whether he would.
Senate funding bill? Not the Senate's authority.
Homeland Security can shut down and still operate. Over 90% of its employees have what are considered "essential jobs" and will remain at work - the people losing their jobs are the clerical support staff. Same thing happened during Obama's government shutdown last year.
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