WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — The final vote on the passage of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) funding bill will take place on Sunday if the US Senate does not accelerate the process, US Senator Harry Reid said.
“Without an agreement to speed up the process, a vote on final passage will take place on Sunday,” Reid said on the US Senate floor on Thursday.
The Senator explained that the DHS faces a shutdown in less than 48 hours and the Democrats are ready to expedite passage of the Department’s funding bill by consent.
“It is unthinkable that America is less than two days away from letting its guard down in the midst of such global calamity,” Reid said.
On Wednesday, the US Senate voted to proceed with the “clean” DHS funding legislation without restrictions on US President Barack Obama’s executive order to grant relief from deportation to millions of illegal immigrants in the United States.
US Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell proposed a bill that separates defunding of US President Barack Obama’s immigration executive action from a DHS Appropriations Act on Monday. The step followed the Senate’s vote to block debate on DHS funding for the fourth time.
US Senate Democrats have blocked previously proposed DHS funding bills from coming to a vote because Republicans had included provisions barring funding for Obama’s executive order.
