John Boehner sets vote on ‘clean’ homeland security bill

House Speaker John Boehner has announced that the House will vote Tuesday on a homeland security funding bill without restrictions on President Obama’s deportation amnesty, ending the shutdown showdown by conceding to Democrats’ demands for a clean bill.

In a closed-door meeting with the House Republicans, Mr. Boehner explained that the party should not shut down the Homeland Security Department amid ever-present terrorist threats and blamed Senate Republicans for failing to find a way to win the standoff.

“As you’ve heard me say a number of times, the House has done its job by passing legislation to fund DHS and block the president’s executive actions on immigration. Unfortunately, the fight was never won in the other chamber,” said Mr. Boehner, Ohio Republican, according to a source in the room.

“Democrats stayed united and blocked our bill, and our Republican colleagues in the Senate never found a way to win this fight. The three-week CR we offered would have kept this fight going and allowed us to continue to put pressure on Senate Democrats to do the right thing,” he said. “Unfortunately, that plan was rejected.”

The announcement will put Mr. Boehner at odds with conservatives who make up a large faction of House Republicans, who were committed to sustaining the fight against the president’s executive action on immigration, which attempts to grant legal status, work permits and Social Security numbers to more than 4 million illegal immigrants.

The surrender of the shutdown fight could spur conservatives to mount a rebellion to oust Mr. Boehner as speaker, though such a move would be a rare occurrence in Congress.

Rep. Greg Walden, chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, said that Mr. Boehner’s job was not in jeopardy.

“We need to protect American security. We need to do the right thing,” the Oregon Republican told The Washington Times.

The bill is expected to get a vote Tuesday and pass with Democratic support.

In the conference meeting, Mr. Boehner outlined three options for this week: a shutdown of the department, another short-term funding bill to extend the fight, or the “clean” that was passed by the Senate, according to a source in the room.

He insisted that a shutdown was the wrong option, arguing that it wasn’t worth risking national security to fight the amnesty program that has already been halted by a federal court.

“With more active threats coming into the homeland, I don’t believe that’s an option. Imagine if, God forbid, another terrorist attack hits the United States,” he said.

“I am as outraged and frustrated as you at the lawless and unconstitutional actions of this president,” he told the conference. “I believe this decision — considering where we are — is the right one for this team, and the right one for this country. The good news is that the president’s executive action has been stopped, for now. This matter will continue to be litigated in the courts, where we have our best chance of winning this fight.”