
Via The Blaze:
Senate Democrats blocked legislation to fund the Department of Homeland Security for the fifth time on Monday, leaving just four days before DHS funding expires, and with no apparent way forward to break the deadlock.
Republicans have insisted that the Senate should take up the House-passed bill for weeks, but Democrats have refused because they oppose language that would defund President Barack Obama’s executive action on immigration.
Monday evening, the Senate voted 47-46 to move the bill ahead, but because 60 votes were needed, the majority vote wasn’t enough to advance the legislation. That reflects the same lack of Democratic support as three prior roll call votes — Democrats also blocked a unanimous consent request to get on the bill earlier in the month. […]
On Sunday, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson declared flatly that “Democrats are not blocking debate.”
But in terms of what is physically happening on the Senate floor, it’s clearly the Democrats who are preventing the Senate from taking up the House-passed DHS bill. The Democratic opposition could reflect their belief that they wouldn’t be able to amend the bill to strip out the immigration defunding language.
