February 15, 2015

House Republicans are refusing to fund the DHS because they object to President Obama's executive order on immigration and that's causing quite a bit of tension on the Hill for Republicans.

House Republicans have already passed a bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security, but that bill is dead on arrival in both the Senate and on President Barack Obama's desk because it would also reverse his executive actions on immigration aimed at shielding millions of undocumented immigrants from deportation.

Republicans always brag that they are the law and order party - the only politicians that can keep America safe, but the extremists in the House are holding up funding for DHS just to make their radical base feel good even though many R's like John McCain and Bob Corker are speaking out against them.

Chris Wallace asked his All Star Panel of conservative pundits on Fox News Sunday if Republicans would be blamed if there is a government shutdown over the funding of DHS and surprisingly both George Will and Dana Perino agreed.

Perino: This is not going to end with the Republicans looking like heroes and they will get blamed by the White House, by the media, by Democrats. They will blame each other.

Will: The Republicans don't seem to understand it. The House keeps sending to the Senate a bill it knows cannot be passed by the Senate. And when Mr. Boehner said to you the House has to do its work, that's not its work to send this futile gesture to make the Republican base feel good. We can't explain to the Republican base how the system works. Well, they better learn how to explain that. That's called leadership.

When you lose your most ardent defenders, I'd say you have a big problem. They know that if the government is shut down over this fight or if the Department of Homeland Security's funding is compromised then Republicans will be blamed and it will paint the new leadership as ineffective fools so early into their new roles.

Full transcript:

WALLACE: She writes, "Republicans will get the blame if department shuts down so they need to come up with a way to try to get some concessions to get past this deadline."

Dana, I mean, as a point of fact, Senate Democrats are filibustering this in the Senate. But is Karen Sue right? In the end, if DHS funding runs out, will Republicans get the blame?

DANA PERINO, CO-HOST, "THE FIVE": It sounds like Karen Sue Cook should come to Capitol Hill because she's exactly right. McConnell put his line in the sand. He's going to stick to it. Meaning, he doesn't want to have a government shutdown.

Now, as Speaker Boehner just told you, they have problems because there are members of their caucus that very much think shutting down DHS is what has to happen in order to push back the president on the executive order about immigration.

This is not going to end with the Republicans looking like heroes and they will get blamed by the White House, by the media, by Democrats. They will blame each other.

And so, I think she's right. They need to have a strategy.

They can't start amending the bill until they get to start -- until there's a bill passed. The Democrats do have some blame here. But when the stories are written, that will be a technicality.

WALLACE Having said all that, George, it still wouldn't look good if DHS runs out of money, would it?

GEORGE WILL, SYNDICATED COLUMNIST: That's right. First of all, because when the Republicans took control of the Senate, the fundamental promise was adult supervision, that under Harry Reid, the Senate had been essentially removed from the constitutional process. People just didn't vote on things. Now, this comes along. The question is, who would be blamed? Whether the Republicans be: (a), yes, they're always blamed. But, (b), this case, they deserve to be blamed in this sense -- the president understands the separation of powers. He just doesn't like it and rejects it. The Republicans don't seem to understand it. The House keeps sending to the Senate a bill it knows cannot be passed by the Senate.And when Mr. Boehner said to you the House has to do its work, that's not its work to send this futile gesture to make the Republican base feel good. We can't explain to the Republican base how the system works. Well, they better learn how to explain that. That's called leadership

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