And rightly so. Republican House Speaker John Boehner went on Fox News over the weekend and screamed down Fox host, Chris Wallace, telling him that the blame for any Department of Homeland Security shutdown would be placed on Senate Democrats. Boehner was quick to point out that the House of Representatives already passed a bill to keep DHS going past the February 28th deadline, but he failed to admit that the bill contained language specifically geared to shutting down President Obama’s immigration order.
Senate Democrats have said that they would not entertain any DHS funding bill that degrades the President’s immigration order, so we stand at a standstill with the February 28th deadline quickly approaching.
But who should be blamed if the deadline passes and Homeland Security funding stops?
A recent poll conducted by CNN puts that blame in the lap of Congressional Republicans.
Republicans in Congress would shoulder the blame for a shutdown at the Department of Homeland Security if they are unable to enact a new spending bill to keep the agency running, according to a new CNN/ORC poll. The survey finds 53% of Americans would blame the Republicans in Congress if the department must shut down, while 30% would blame President Barack Obama. Another 13% say both deserve the blame.
If a spending bill is not passed by Feb. 28, the agency’s funding will run out.
A majority says a shutdown at DHS, even if it’s just for a few days, would be a crisis or a major problem. Republicans are less likely to see a shutdown as a big problem, 46% say so compared with 66% among Democrats. Among all adults, slightly fewer see a DHS shutdown as a problem or crisis than said so in November when asked about a possible shutdown of the whole government, 55% now vs. 59% in that poll.
As in November, this shutdown threat has more to do with immigration policy than with budgetary concerns.
House Republicans have been sparring with their Senate counterparts over whether a bill to continue the agency’s funding should also reverse Obama’s executive actions on immigration, which shielded millions of undocumented immigrants from deportation. The House has already passed a bill to fund DHS which includes a provision to undo Obama’s actions, but Senate Democrats have blocked attempts to bring the bill to a vote and some Senate Republicans have spoken out against dealing with both issues in one bill.
