Boehner ready to let funding lapse for U.S. Homeland Security agency

WORLD / Politics

Boehner ready to let funding lapse for U.S. Homeland Security agency

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky (left) and House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio stand together on Capitol Hill Friday, during a ceremony before the signing of the bill authorizing expansion of the Keystone XL pipeline. Though both houses of Congress are now controlled by Republicans, Boehner and McConnell are at a standstill over provisions attached to a Homeland Security spending bill aimed at blocking President Barack Obama's executive actions on immigration. | AP

Reuters

Feb 16, 2015

WASHINGTON – John Boehner, the Republican U.S. House of Representatives speaker, said he is willing to let funding for the Department of Homeland Security lapse as part of a Republican push to roll back President Barack Obama’s executive actions on immigration.

With a Feb. 27 deadline looming for funding the department, Senate Democrats three times this month blocked consideration of the Homeland Security appropriations bill, which has already been approved by the House.

“Senate Democrats are the ones standing in the way. They’re the ones jeopardizing funding,” Boehner told Fox News on Sunday. Asked if he was prepared to let financing for the department lapse, he said: “Certainly. The House has acted. We’ve done our job.”