Several Republican governors are urging their party’s congressional leaders to stand firm this week in opposing legislation funding the US Department of Homeland Security if the US Congress does not also overturn US President Barack Obama’s executive action on immigration.
Governors in both parties who met in Washington over the weekend warned of economic and security concerns should Congress fail to resolve its latest budget standoff.
The agency’s US$40 billion budget runs out on Friday, giving federal lawmakers only a few days to reach an agreement once they return from recess.
While some call for compromise, a handful of high-profile Republicans charged that stopping what they see as Obama’s unconstitutional power grab might be as important as resolving the funding dispute.
The Obama administration last week put on hold plans to shield more than 4 million immigrants living in the country illegally from deportation after a federal judge in Texas temporarily blocked the effort the day the program was scheduled to begin.
Twenty-six states, led by Texas, filed a lawsuit in December last year arguing that the president does not have the authority to allow the groups of immigrants to legally stay and work in the US. The White House is appealing the ruling.
Indiana Governor Mike Pence, who is weighing a Republican presidential bid, said the court ruling “vindicates the efforts of the Congress to use the power of the purse to prevent the administration from doing what the constitution does not permit them to do.”
Pence said he is “strongly urging” the US Senate to support a House-passed bill that funds the Department of Homeland Security, but also undoes Obama’s immigration actions.
Another Republican White House prospect, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, whose state was involved in the lawsuit, suggested that while compromise might be possible, Republicans “need to be aggressive in pushing back on” the president’s immigration plans.
He said he hoped Congress would come up with a solution that “funds Homeland Security, but acknowledges the overstep of this president.”
Utah Governor Gary Herbert, another Republican, said Republicans in Congress “have to get their leverage where they can.”
Like others, Herbert was frustrated with congressional inaction on immigration despite repeated pleas from state leaders and business and immigrant groups to address the issue.
The stakes are high for millions of immigrants in the country illegally and the political fortunes of both parties heading into a presidential election campaign.
“We’re talking about people’s pay checks. We’re talking about people’s lives,” Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper, a Democrat who also serves as chairman of the National Governors Association, said of a budget impasse. “It is going to affect our states and it’s going to affect every state in the country.”
Democratic governors said the Republican-led Congress should simply fund the Department of Homeland Security without playing politics with immigration.
Congress has little time to resolve the dispute before the Homeland Security budget runs out.
A department shutdown would have a limited impact on national security. Most workers across agencies, including the Secret Service, Transportation Security Administration and Customs and Border Protection, fall into exempted categories of workers who perform work considered necessary to protect human life and property and would stay on the job in a shutdown.
However, most workers would not get paid until the shutdown ends. And all personnel involved in administering grants would be furloughed, including Federal Emergency Management Agency workers — who make grants to state and local governments — fire departments and others to help them prepare for or respond to various threats and emergencies.
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