WASHINGTON, January 15 (Sputnik) — US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will recommend US President Barack Obama to veto the amended version of DHS funding bill due to new riders to defund Obama’s immigration initiatives, DHS Secretary said Thursday.
“We have made plain that if the bill in this form comes to the President’s desk, his staff and I will recommend that he veto it,” Secretary Jeh Johnson said in a statement.
Johnson underscored that the original DHS funding bill introduced by Congressman Harold Rogers was a good bill that “funded key homeland security priorities and initiatives.”
Homeland Security Secretary pointed out that such recent events as the terrorist attacks in Paris, Ottawa and Sydney “call for increased vigilance in homeland security.”
“In these times, the budget of the Department of Homeland Security cannot become a political volleyball,” Johnson stressed.
On Wednesday, the US House of Representatives passed 2015 Department of Homeland Security funding bill that includes amendments defunding Obama’s executive immigration actions. Additionally, it does not allow financing any policies similar to the one that was defunded. The bill still has to pass in the US Senate before going to the president’s desk for a signature. Currently the DHS is funded through February 27.
In November 2014 President Obama announced that about 5 million undocumented immigrants who are parents of US citizens or lawful permanent residents will have a right to obtain temporary relief from removal, as well as an opportunity to work in the United States legally and pay taxes.
