In an abrupt about-face, Senate Democrats announced Wednesday they would end their filibuster of a Department of Homeland Security spending bill, clearing the way for a vote before current funding runs out in two days.
“We have a pathway to vote on it tomorrow,” Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, Nevada Democrat, told reporters at the Capitol after a closed-door meeting with his caucus.
A day earlier, Mr. Reid said he wouldn’t accept Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s offer of bringing a “clean” bill — one without policy riders blocking President Obama’s deportation amnesty — unless House Republicans agreed to hold a vote on the same unamended bill.
“All eyes now shift to House Republicans,” Mr. Reid said.
The vote to bring the funding bill to the Senate floor could come as soon as Wednesday. If any of the 100 senators object to expediting the voting process, the final vote likely would be Thursday evening.
The fate of the funding bill remains uncertain in the House, where a large faction of conservative Republicans opposed the deal that would remove their leverage to change Mr. Obama’s immigration moves.
Earlier in the day, House Speaker John A. Boehner declined to reveal his plans.
“I’m waiting for the Senate to act. The House has passed a bill to fund the department. It’s time for the Senate to do their job,” he said.
The Department of Homeland Security will suffer a partial shutdown when current funding runs out Friday. Lawmakers on both sides of the Capitol have suggested a short-term funding bill to give them more time.
Mr. Reid also backed off an earlier promise that Democrats wouldn’t filibuster a separate bill against the president’s move to grant legal status, work permits and Social Security numbers to more than 4 million illegal immigrants.
Mr. Reid said Democrats would block that bill until the funding bill for the Department of Homeland Security clears the House.
Mr. McConnell, Kentucky Republican, received a cool reception Tuesday from Mr. Reid when he offered to the two-bill solution that gave Democrats the “clean” funding bill they have been demanding and a separate vote against Mr. Obama’s immigration actions that Republicans have demand.
• S.A. Miller can be reached at smiller@washingtontimes.com.
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