Congress approved a one-week funding extension for the Department of Homeland Security to head off a partial agency shutdown at Friday midnight, USA Today reported Saturday.Susan Davis and Erin Kelly write the Senate passed the DHS stopgap spending bill on a voice vote Friday evening and the House voted 357-60 to pass the measure just two hours before the agency’s current authorization deadline.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said the extension allows Democratic lawmakers to push $40 billion in fiscal 2015 appropriations for DHS, according to the newspaper.
The Washington Post reported that Democrats pointed to national security threats facing the U.S. in an attempt to encourage Republicans to take up a “clean” long-term spending bill for DHS.
House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) tried to advance a three-week DHS funding bill early Friday to give lawmakers more time to tackle President Barack Obama’s immigration reform, according to the story by Sean Sullivan and Mike DeBonis.
DHS on Friday published a 46-page document that outlines the agency’s procedures in the event of a shutdown caused by a lapse in appropriations.
Last week, DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson said a shutdown would force the agency to furlough more than 30,000 employees.
