Senate Democrats accepted Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's (R-Ky.) deal yesterday to end their filibuster of the House-passed DHS funding bill, H.R.240. By a 98-to-2 margin, the Senate approved a procedural motion, allowing the bill to come to the floor. McConnell is expected to offer an amendment today that would strip out the two immigration amendments inserted by the House before moving to a final vote on the bill.
Senators Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) and Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) were the only Republicans to oppose the procedural vote, but there will likely be much more opposition to McConnell's amendment that would strip out the amendments that would defund Pres. Obama's unconstitutional executive amnesties.
How the House will respond to the Senate's deal is still uncertain. After a closed door meeting on Wednesday morning, Republican House Members came out saying they'll wait to see exactly how the Senate proceeds. Large opposition by Senate Republicans to the McConnell amendment could send a loud message to House Republicans to stand strong on the defunding issue.
Today, the House will consider H.R.5, the Student Success Act, but yesterday, it passed a resolution establishing the rules for debating that bill that included a provision giving Speaker John Boehner some flexibility in dealing with the Senate's actions. Rule #12 states:
Section 4 provides that it shall be in order at any time through the calendar day of March 1, 2015, for the Speaker to entertain motions that the House suspend the rules relating to a measure making or continuing appropriations for the Department of Homeland Security for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2015.
Under suspension of the rules, the House can pass any bill without going through regular order as long as 2/3 of the Members who are present agree. Should all House Democrats agree to pass a "clean" DHS funding bill, only 102 Republicans would need to join them in order to pass the bill under suspension of the rules.
