House Sends Seven-Month Clean DHS Bill to Obama
The House passed a “clean” Department of Homeland Security funding bill with a 257-167 vote after House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, put the legislation up for a vote on March 3. The legislation, HR-240 (here), funds CBP and the rest of DHS through Sept. 30. The measure only garnered 75 Republican votes. No Democrats opposed it.
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The House introduced the bill in mid-January, and in the end, lawmakers simply stripped the measure of its immigration language. Republicans had hoped to prevent President Barack Obama's executive action on immigration through the funding bill. Many Democrats praised the March 3 vote, but criticized Republican stewardship of the process. "Many weeks were wasted on political games that left us staring a Homeland Security shutdown square in the face," said Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid in a statement.
The bill will provide $10.7 billion for CBP through the end of fiscal year 2015, more than $100 million above FY14 funding levels, the House Appropriations Committee said at the time of introduction in January (see 1501120012). Lawmakers are giving CBP enough money to fund 21,370 Border Patrol agents and 23,775 CBP officers, said the committee. The legislation also gives CBP nearly $150 million for the Automated Commercial Environment.