Tuesday, March 3, 2015
Ending Uncertainty, House Approves Year’s Funding for Homeland Security
The House has passed a bill that will fund Homeland Security for the rest of the year. This comes after weeks of uncertainty and prevents the partial shut down of the agency. Conservative republicans are angered by this outcome but this decision prevents their political fallout because it does not threaten public safety. Boehner has received praise for what some consider a strategic move while others believe he just "caved in". Do you agree with the bill? What do you think of Boehner's actions?
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At a certain point, Republican leaders need to start standing up for the principles that they claim to support: specifically, the rule of law and the Constitutional order of power separation. Usually, a president whose party loses control of Congress during his final two years is referred to as a "lame duck" because Congress can halt his agenda. What we are witnessing is the exact opposite. Through executive order and Congress's unwillingness to hold him to any legal standard whatsoever, Obama has essentially removed all limits on his executive power that previously existed. His executive amnesty is blatantly unconstitutional, and everyone, including Obama, knows it, yet Boehner is still green-lighting it to avoid taking the blame for another shutdown. Decisions like these, which excuse egregious, illegal executive power grabs, are turning Congress into an irrelevant body of government.
ReplyDeleteI think the Republicans did the right thing. Even though they may not agree with Obama's legislation, passing the bill that will fund Homeland Security is important for the nations security.
ReplyDeleteI think the republicans and Boehner in particular did the right thing. Boehner knew that Homeland Security needed to be funded. I think Boehner knew that he would receive criticism from his fellow republicans but Boehner knows he can fight Obama on immigration another day. It is obviously very important that Homeland Security remains funded. I'm glad to see things turn out the way they did.
ReplyDeleteIt is nice to see that the two parties could put aside their differences for once to pass what they knew needed to be passed. If this bill was not passed, it could have put our county in danger. Many essential homeland personal would have probably protested without pay, leaving some secure aspects of our country vulnerable. Although the Obama's actions on immigration don't agree with republican views, it's good to see The House working as it should be. Ignoring party ideology and working for what is best for the country.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad that Congress could finally make some sort of compromise on an issue, although somewhat begrudgingly. Funding Homeland Security is a very necessary action of Congress, so it was somewhat terrifying to see that the two parties could not put aside their differences for something so important. I'm happy to see some bipartisanship, and I hope that Republicans and Democrats see that the world doesn't end when the two parties pass a law.
ReplyDeleteI believe Congress passing this Homeland Security appropriations bill, even with it including Obama's immigration reform, demonstrates the true reasonableness within the Republican party. The Republicans care more about America's security than taking away an Obama accomplishment, which is much more than many liberal pundits give the GOP credit for. At the same time, Obama's immigration action was obviously overreaching and I truly hope, either through legislation or court action, that the president is corralled to within our Constitution.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Andy, there is a lot of negative attitude for the republican party by but there is proof that they are not just out to sabotage the democratic agenda. They at least are focused on funding homeland security due to the fact that it is more important than trying to get rid of other legislation. This does seem like common sense however and I am not entirely impressed by the actions of either party in the House.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad that Congress was able to actually pass some legislation, and I have no objections to the Homeland Security bill. I'm glad party polarization could be put aside for some important matters, like the security if our nation. I wish we could have this kind of attitude with other bills.
ReplyDeleteThough many Republican, including Boehner, don't agree with Obama's policy on immigration, the primary priority would be to fun Homeland Security. This is a primary agency that helps protect the general public, and it needed to be funded. I don't believe that Boehner caved in, but rather decided that the pros of this bill outweighed the cons.
ReplyDeleteLike the above comments, I too am happy that Congress was able to put aside its differences in order to pass an important piece of legislation. Funding Homeland Security was a necessary piece of legislation that protects our country. I think Boehner should be commended. I think he knew he would receive criticism from the Republican party, but he knew that this funding was the right thing to do, whether he agreed with Obama on immigration or not.
ReplyDeleteHonestly I think it's shameful that there was even uncertainty and delay surrounding this legislation. Is our government really that disfunctional? I think that elected officials really need to get there act together if they believe that funding homeland security was unnecessary. I'm glad that Boehner was responsible even if other parts of the government are slacking.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I suppose the fact that a compromise was made is a good thing, I think it can only be seen as a "win" because someone decided to defund a massive federal program to further their own agenda (something that shouldn't be accepted in the first place, in my opinion). I think that for a politician to express an opinion about a particular issues, they need to maintain both a sense of responsibility and dignity, which seems to be missing from Boehner at this point.
ReplyDeleteWhile I think national security is obviously important, it's interesting to consider that this agency which was just recently formed is struggling to gain funding. There are threats out there, but this country seemed to deal with threats well enough before 9/11 without having to hemorrhage money. Do we really need it? It's nice to have but at what cost?
ReplyDeleteI'm glad this bill was passed not just because the department is important but because the department is full of hardworking people just like you and me who deserve to be paid for their time, especially when they have important jobs like those in the Department of Homeland Security. The house will just have to figure out a better budget.
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