Dems Slam GOP over DHS Funding; Boehner Blows Kisses But Mum on Clean Proposal

Caleb Smith / Office of the Speaker(WASHINGTON) — The top two Democratic leaders on Capitol Hill, Sen. Harry Reid and Rep. Nancy Pelosi, sharply criticized Republicans for tactics they said threatened to endanger the nation’s safety. At a joint press conference, they said Democrats would not support a short-term bill to keep the Department of Homeland Security funded.

“ISIS appears to have money. Terrorists appear to have money. Why shouldn’t our homeland have the ability to protect itself?” Reid, D-Nevada, told reporters Thursday. “This is like living in a world of crazy people.”

Pelosi said it was wrong to ask tens of thousands of homeland security workers — border officers, secret service agents, and others — to work without a paycheck as Congress failed to do its job.

“I think most everybody I know cannot live without having their paycheck on time — members of Congress even,” Pelosi, D-California, said. “And yet, they’re asking this Debarment of Homeland Security people to do that.”

She added: “The gamesmanship should end.”

Even though the Senate cleared a filibuster to advance towards a clean DHS funding bill, House Speaker John Boehner still has not signaled how he would receive such legislation once it’s sent to the lower chamber.

“I don’t know what the Senate can produce or what they can’t produce,” Boehner, R-Ohio, said. “If they produce something, we’ll decide what we’re going to do after we see it.”

While Republicans are being slammed for holding the funding hostage in order to block the president’s executive actions on Immigration, Boehner sees it the other way around.

“I just think it’s outrageous that Senate Democrats are using Homeland Security funding for blackmail to protect the actions of the president, where the president himself said he didn’t have the authority to do this,” Boehner said. “The president said 22 times that he did not have the authority to make these changes in law. And yet he did it anyway. The Congress of the United States cannot look the other way and act like it didn’t happen.”

After being repeatedly asked about what he’d do next if the senate sends a clean DHS bill, Boehner puckered up and blew several kisses to a male reporter.

“When we make decisions, I’ll let you know,” Boehner said through a chorus of laughter. “That’s just a kiss, that’s all.”

While the standoff is the first true test of the new Republican leadership’s ability to work with each other, Boehner seems intent not to buckle even though the funding lapses Friday night.

“We have two different institutions that don’t have the same body temperature every day, and so, you know, we tend to try to work to narrow the differences,” Boehner said. “But sometimes there are differences. You know, the House, by nature and by design, is a hell of a lot more rambunctious place than the Senate — much more.”

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