WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — US Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell proposed a bill to overturn US President Barack Obama’s immigration executive action following the Senate’s vote to block debate on the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) funding for a fourth time.
McConnell’s bill would “prohibit funds from being used to carry out certain executive actions related to immigration and for other purposes,” according the Senate floor clerk on Monday.
McConnell said that his new bill offered “another way to get the Senate unstuck” from the gridlock preventing the DHS funding bill from being debated on the Senate floor.
On Monday Obama warned that over 100,000 DHS personnel would likely be forced to work without pay while the decision on funding the department remains pending. Meanwhile, White House spokesperson Josh Earnest said that Obama was prepared to discuss ways to improve the American immigration system with Congress as long as it helped to ensure funding for the DHS.
The US House of Representatives introduced a $39.7 billion appropriations bill for the DHS in January. However, the bill included a Republican-sponsored amendment to withhold funding for any of the President Obama’s executive actions on immigration, which grant millions of undocumented immigrants a permission to legally stay and work in the United States.
Obama said that he would veto any bill that does not fully fund the department, turning the issue into a brewing political battle between his administration and the Republican controlled Congress.
