The House voted 257-167 to pass a measure to fund the Department of Homeland Security until Sept. 30, the end of the fiscal year.
The vote ends weeks of fighting over department funding and stops any conservative effort to include language to defund President Barack Obama’s executive orders on immigration.
The legislation will be signed into law later this evening by President Obama..
The bill passed in the Senate last month.
House Speaker John Boehner needed the help of the Democrats to get the bill to pass, as House Republicans voted against the measure because it leaves out language blocking President Obama’s executive actions on immigration. The bill passed with Democratic support.
As a matter of fact 75 House Republicans voted to fund the DHS while 167 voted against the funding bill. The bill passed with 182 Democrats helping the speaker get the funding issue resolved.
Speaker Boehner told the media Tuesday that even though Congress will not block Obama through its spending authority, a court-ordered injunction against President Obama’s directive will delay implementation. According to the Washington Examiner the speaker attempted to calm down his troops.
“I believe this decision, considering where we are, is the right one for this team, and the right one for this country,” Boehner told Republicans in a closed-door meeting on Tuesday, according to a witness. “The good news is that the president’s executive action has been stopped, for now. This matter will continue to be litigated in the courts, where we have our best chance of winning this fight.”
Without the passage of today’s funding bill DHS would have run out of funding on Friday.
