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Being elected Speaker of the US House of Representatives by his Republican peers should have been the happy culmination of a long congressional career for Rep. John Boehner. Telling his story about rising from modest circumstances – the second of 12 children in a working-class Ohio family – to become a legislative leader and second in order of presidential succession frequently brought tears to his eyes. But so far, at least, it’s largely been a slog through political swamps. He’s had to fight off not only Democrats but tea partiers and other members of his own party – including the...

A provision tucked deep in the House rule book could provide a way out of the Homeland Security funding mess for Speaker John A. Boehner — without the Ohio Republican actually having to do anything.

Breaking: They voted it down

Washington (CNN)—House Speaker John Boehner faces a looming threat from conservatives to oust him as speaker, and it's tying his hands on funding the Department of Homeland Security. Congress passed a one-week extension of funding just hours before the deadline on Friday night. It was that fear fueling Boehner's resistance to a longer-term bill, as it might prompt backlash from conservatives. President Barack Obama signed the bill, which funds the Department of Homeland Security through Friday. Two senior House Republican sources tell CNN there's a serious concern among those close to the Speaker that if he allowed a vote on...

South Carolina Republican Rep. Trey Gowdy has introduced an immigration bill to defund President Obama’s executive amnesty and expedite the removal of criminal aliens from U.S. soil. Named after Michael Davis, Jr., a sheriff’s deputy in California who was killed in the line of duty last year by an illegal immigrant, Gowdy’s bill would also provide a work-around for state and local governments to reinforce federal immigration laws while also implementing an annual review of the executive branch’s use of prosecutorial discretion in immigration cases. “If we are serious about finding a long term solution to our immigration system, we...

Congress has narrowly averted a shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security for one week, setting up another funding showdown for next Friday. Hours before a midnight deadline, the House easily approved a one-week extension of the funding. It required two-thirds of members' support to pass. Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi reversed course later Friday night, instructing House Democrats to back the one-week measure.

Long Island's Rep. Peter King said Friday he had run out of patience with the House Republicans who are bent on defunding the Homeland Security Department to protest President Barack Obama's immigration executive orders. "It's wrong politically because we'll be blamed for shutting down the department," said King (R-Seaford). "It's wrong morally because we are putting American lives at risk to satisfy a political imperative." That cliff -- the expiration of funds for DHS as of midnight Friday night -- was avoided with Congress' late action. But it was just hours away when 52 conservative Republicans and 172 Democrats voted...

The optics look really bad without the House sending something to the Senate. If I were Speaker I'd try and send a bill that required Senate go to conference - that would make them look bad if they failed to agree - what say you?

U.S. Senate Passes One-Week Security Funding Extension Boehner returns to his office after a visit to the House floor for procedural votes for legislation to fund the Department of Homeland Security at the Capitol in Washington .

Washington (CNN)The Department of Homeland Security moved closer to running out of money Friday after the House rejected a bill that would have kept the agency open for three more weeks. Unless another deal is reached by midnight, DHS will fall into a partial shutdown, leaving thousands of workers furloughed while forcing others to show up on the job without being paid. The House vote was a shocking twist to a dramatic day on Capitol Hill. For most of the day, lawmakers seemed poised to avoid a partial shutdown. The House cleared a procedural hurdle earlier in the day, indicating...

The White House said Friday that President Obama will sign into law a short-term funding bill to avoid a midnight shutdown of the Homeland Security Department, a pledge that all but assures the funding fight over his deportation amnesty will last at least three more weeks. “The truth is, if the president is faced with the choice between the short-term extension and shutting down the Department of Homeland Security, he will sign the short-term extension,” White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said at the daily press briefing. The president’s willingness to accept the temporary funding being pushed by House Republicans...

Congress closed in Friday on approving a short-term spending bill for the Homeland Security Department that would avert a partial agency shutdown hours before it was to begin. The legislation also leaves intact Obama administration executive actions on immigration that Republicans have vowed to overturn. But Republicans insisted that passing a short-term bill preserved their ability to keep fighting them. But Senate Republicans had already admitted defeat. As debate proceeded in the House, the Senate voted 68-31 to approve a full-year bill free of contentious immigration provisions. Some House Republicans predicted that they would eventually end up doing the same...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress closed in Friday on approving a short-term spending bill for the Homeland Security Department that would avert a partial agency shutdown hours before it was to begin. The legislation also leaves intact Obama administration executive actions on immigration that Republicans have vowed to overturn. But Republicans insisted that passing a short-term bill preserved their ability to keep fighting them. An early vote in the House clearing the way for final passage of the bill was approved easily, 240-183. [snip] "I am not going to vote under any circumstances to fund illegal conduct," said Rep. Mo Brooks,...

Ken Cuccinelli Senate Conservatives Fund President Ken Cuccinelli calls Senate Republicans’ decision to push Homeland Security funding that includes money for President Obama’s amnesty a “total surrender” that proves GOP leaders “really don’t have any backbone.” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., decided earlier in the week to stop pushing a Department of Homeland Security, or DHS, appropriations bill that strictly forbids funding for Obama administration executive action on immigration in 2012 and 2014. With Democrats blocking debate, McConnell agreed to bring a “clean” bill forward in exchange for Democrat promises to vote on a separate bill to defund...

The House will vote Friday on a bill funding the Department of Homeland Security for three weeks in an attempt to avert a shutdown slated for Saturday at the massive agency. If the bill is approved by the House, the Senate is expected to quickly follow suit — though the upper chamber also plans to move forward with a bill funding Homeland Security through the end of the fiscal year. Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) announced the new strategy to his rank-and-file members during a closed-door caucus meeting Thursday night. Senior Republicans predicted it would win enough support to clear the...

“The illegal alien dreamer that murdered my son only served four months of an eight month sentence for assault with a deadly weapon and battery on a police officer,” Shaw said. “He was released from the county jail the day before he executed my son. Why was this violent illegal alien allowed to walk the streets of America instead of being deported?” “Do black lives really matter or does it matter only if you are shot by a white person or a white policeman?” he added, before alluding to the ‘hands up, don’t shoot’ saying that became popular following the...

Funding for the department expires at midnight on Friday. ... Boehner doesn't appear to be going along with his Republican counterparts in the Senate, where Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is looking to avert a shutdown by offering Democrats a clean funding bill for DHS. The speaker would not say whether he would back a Senate funding bill without provisions that would defund President Obama's executive actions on immigration. At one point, Boehner blew kisses at reporters after they asked whether he would. ... McConnell had attempted to push through a House-passed funding bill four times, but Senate Democrats blocked it...

Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) will not vote for a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) appropriations bill because it funds President Obama’s controversial immigration actions, he told the crowd at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) Thursday. “Our laws don’t authorize this action so if it’s carried out, if its implemented, this action will have the effect of undoing something that Congress has done and doing so in a way that circumvents the Constitution,” he said. “We have to use the power of the purse, we have to withhold funding when the president does that.” Senate Democrats have repeatedly filibustered to...

I sent the following to Se. McConnell in hopes that he will consider it a viable option. Dear Senator McConnell, Presently the democrats are filibustering in order to prevent discussion on the DHS funding bill passed by the House. The democrats want funding for the illegal immigration executive amnesty order, while the Republicans are against it, and rightly so. I suggest employing the nuclear option in this battle. It is justified by holding a news conference and telling the citizens of the US that the security of our Country is too important to be held hostage by the liberal democrats....

The Texas federal judge who suspended President Obama’s executive actions on immigration has rebuffed the Justice Department's request that he consider lifting that order by Wednesday. Earlier this week, the Obama administration asked U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen to let the immigration programs go forward while the court case played out. The DOJ urged Hanen to decide by Wednesday. But Hanen said he won’t honor the request because he has given those challenging the actions until Monday to respond to the department’s request. Hanen issued his injunction Feb. 16 to halt Obama’s executive actions, which would spare as many as...